Drift
by blossomtoxin
Summary: After the events of The Last Jedi, the crew is sent to the outer edges of the galaxy to search out and rekindle old (and new) alliances. They are trapped in an odd galactic storm and crash into an even stranger planet, where Rey is divided from the rest of the group. She's still dreaming about Ben, haunted by their previous connection. Kylo Ren x Rey
1. Of Dreaming

Rey had done her best not to allow herself to dream.

There had been a frightful intimacy to her dreams as of late, reminiscent of the vague brush of a hand against hers. Her skin prickled, in what she initially thought was revulsion. It had come to comfort her like an old friend. She woke up in a sweat, her breath rapid and her skin almost painful against the scratchy rough spun of her blanket. It was frustrating, this lack of sleep, and a pair of dark bags had begun to present themselves on her otherwise youthful face.

No one had warned her that this would be more difficult than facing off against a room full of enemies.

A voice echoed painfully in her skull, and she squeezed her eyes against the onslaught, pinching them shut until he quieted down. Usually, he would - as these were only dreams. Snoke was gone, and their connection had been obliterated with him. Their connection had been obliterated. She sometimes had to repeat it like a mantra in her head. Obliterated. Like so many other things. Gone. Ghosts.

She sat up, rubbing her temples and glancing out at the starry expanse stretched out before her. She had taken to falling asleep in the cock pit of the Falcon, causing Chewie to inevitably toss a blanket over her before mournfully groaning and making his way to his own bed. That (early) morning, she found herself facing Poe, a headache already growing right behind her eyes. He handed her a cup of something strong, though she couldn't be sure if it was meant to help her sleep or wake up. She dropped her legs down, feet planting firmly on the floor as she wrapped her hands around the steaming mug. Poe looked sleepless himself, his dark hair curling into his eyes.

"You dream loudly," He said, a smirk stretching across his face.

"I'm sorry," She said, taking a sip of the liquid before coughing a bit. "What is this?" She nearly spat.

"Old family remedy," He whispered. "It will help you sleep,"

"Oh really?" She murmured playfully, though she knew when she was fitful that the others on the ship were usually awake.

Poe smiled his impressively charming smile and settled into the seat beside her. The falcon was cold, strangely devoid of any sort of movement other than a vague, creeping chill which seemed to be taking all of them over. Rey had been forced to pull on her thickest socks and pile herself high with as many blankets as any of them could find. They were in a drift, a strange sort of void that was full of frequent lightning storms and a thick blanket of clouds. It was dazzling, but the moment that they'd gotten swept up in it, the Falcon had stopped working - causing Chewie to spend a good deal of his time below in an attempt to figure out what the hell was going on.

Poe hadn't meant to be on the ship with them, but he'd caught a ride when they made the plan to head out to a system that housed an old Alliance base, with reports of allies springing up there. General Organa had sent them all across the systems looking to bolster these connections. Leia had noticed the general malaise of the crew, and Rey had suspected that she had wanted to give them an activity that would take their mind from the overwhelming amount of system changing events that had happened. He seemed frustrated by their lack of progress, but they were stuck - and all of them had eventually accepted the fact that they might have to try to wait the "storm" out.

Poe took a sip from his own drink, which seemed to go down easier than Rey's had - his eyes on the flashing lighting as the ship seemed rattled with another burst of thunder. Rey took another sip of the awful tasting concoction that Poe had given her. Rey examined his profile, finding that in the deep, low light, it was a face she enjoyed looking at. It was not, currently, the one that haunted her dreams; but he seemed to soothe her somehow.

When it seemed there was danger of hearing his eerie, dark tones echoing again in her thoughts, Poe realized he was being watched and looked at her. He always had the look of being vaguely amused, even in the worst situations. Rey barely knew him, though they seemed to share a companionship that went past needing to fill the silence.

"Finn worries about your nightmares," Poe finally said, taking another drink of the liquid. "I thought this might help,"

"It does, thank you," Rey nearly flinched at the use of the word 'nightmares'.

"I hate to sound like a mother hen," He finally murmured. "But maybe you should try catching a few hours in your bunk," He admitted, setting the drink aside. "I'll keep an eye on this while you do. Everyone else will be up in a few hours,"

She wanted to argue, but the soft turn of his brown eyes made her think twice. She nodded, swallowing the rest of the concoction with ferocity before she stood up, setting the cup aside.

"Thank you, Poe,"

He nodded in return, kicking his feet up onto the dash and wrapping his blanket more securely around him.

It was snow and darkness. Rey thought she could spy the vague glow of red, and instead of retreating from it, she began stalking towards it. The snow soaked through her boots, and her feet felt frigid cold. She wore her simple robes that she'd carted with her from Jakku, and they weren't meant for snow. In her hand was a lightsaber, glowing blue with purpose. It felt like a beacon, drawing a dark intention in her direction. Even though she was cold, she felt sweaty and strangely warm, tasting the salt on her lips. It was adrenaline that drove her towards the red light glowing hazily in the snow fall.

The trees kept twisting up like a labyrinth, but eventually she came to a clearing, sterile white and surrounded by a crop of dark trees. There were footprints, a large foot print, and her eyes lifted to take in the surroundings before they landed on him. He was tall, standing there in his stooped fashion with his strange, kinetic lightsaber flickering red at his side. It fell away with that strange disengaging sound once he saw her, and her own was suddenly dissipating at her side.

Ben.

Or was it Kylo Ren?

He was stark against the snow, standing nearly as tall as a tree. He was uninjured, so memory didn't serve. She saw the white of the scar she had given him twisting like a path on his freckled features. He had never been beautiful to her, but she found herself wondering what it might feel like to trace the ridges of the scar with her fingertips. He dropped the lightsaber, and she heard the weight of it crunch in the snow. She was unsure, but eventually her own fell from her fingertips as she drew forward, almost tripping in the thick layers of snowfall. It was his overlarge frame that fell first, onto his knees - as she came to stand before him.

He reached out, pulling the dark gloves from his long, broad fingers. Her own were bare, and so cold she could no longer feel them. He took her hands in his own, and she felt the callouses of training as his warmed skin brushed hers. They were large enough for him to wrap both of his hands around hers. She looked down, finding it so odd that his hands should be wrapped around her own.

"Rey,"

Her voice caught in her throat, and she found she was unable to formulate a reply immediately, other than: "Ben,"

"You're cold," He murmured, in his matter-of-fact way.

His hands slid against hers, and she grasped his, almost unaware that she was capable of such a response. She hadn't yet looked up to him, but now that they were connected, her eyes lifted up to his. They were brown, a fleck of red in them, and he used his weight and height to pull her into the snow with him. She toppled to her knees, though she felt the width and breadth of his arms swooping around her to pull her against his chest. The hug felt crushing at first, but then he loosened his grip and allowed her a moment to pull back. She took the opportunity, pressing her hands against the wall of his chest and using it to push away from his suffocating hug.

He kept his arms wrapped around her, even as she pushed him away.

"Is this real?"

"I don't know,"

He felt real enough. She could feel the fabric of his clothing beneath her fingertips, the warmth of his body radiating against her. She let her hands drift, using the excuse that she was trying to discern that he was real, indeed. It was more shocking when his hands drifted in return - and she had to feel the brunt of them against her bare skin. It felt almost as if he would devour her whole. He then grasped each of her biceps in his hands and began shaking her, his deep velvet tones begging her to wake up.

Wake up.

Rey. Wake up.

WAKE UP!

She shot up, feeling the rough shaking of the Falcon. It felt like the ship might rattle apart entirely, and she opened her eyes just in time to blearily hear Finn and Poe shouting at one another with Chewie howling mournfully as a backdrop. She wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders before she opened her eyes, and she realized that this shaking was unlike the rattlings of before. They were falling, and it felt as if the storm was pulling them inward. She scrambled out of the bunk, slipping and sliding in the direction of the cock-pit, though the ships lights flickered on and off, indicating that it still wasn't working. She heard Rose below, banging and adjusting, but the Falcon gave no real response.

Chewie yelled down at her, and she responded with a quick, "I'm working on it!" Irritation evident in her tone.

Rey scrambled into the cockpit, doing her best not to get knocked against the walls of the corridors before she grasped onto the chair Finn was currently sitting in.

"What's going on?" She shouted over the din of the free fall.

"It started awhile go, all the lights blinked out and we went into free fall. Sometimes the power kicks back on but it's scarily infrequent," Finn said, his clipped tones distracted as he continued mashing things on the console. As if on cue, the lights flickered on and halted the process of the fall, but it wasn't to last. The lights flickered off again, causing Rose to give an audible exclamation from down below.

Rey reached out, grasping Finn's shoulder suddenly.

"Hold on," She murmured, her eyes closing slowly.

Rey reached out, as she had done before, feeling the strange in-between of the spaces around them. There was something out there, something beyond what she could touch that was causing the ship to fail. Every time she got close to it, it slipped from her. She didn't chase it, instead choosing to focus on the falling of the ship. Her strength didn't waiver, and even though there was a faint headache beginning at the back of her eyes, she managed to steady and slow the plunge of the ship. They broke through the atmosphere of the planet that was pulling them downward, moving at a speed that caused the outer hull to catch fire. They were either going to die aboard the Falcon, or Rey would have to settle them to ground without killing them all.

It seemed an eternity, but when the Falcon met water with a loud rumble and a large shake, they all became dislodged from their places, including Rey. She fell backwards, away from Finn, and landed on her butt with her head banging against something as the console caught her. Everything went black.

It was a dreamless sleep, which she might have been thankful for, if she had known. However, Rey woke with a throbbing in her head, and sweat on her brow. It was hotter than she ever remembered it being in Jakku, though she could hear a familiar voice in her head saying that 'it was a dry heat'. This was different though, the air pregnant with water, pressing upon one with an urgent need to find a cold body of water immediately. Her face indicated her displeasure, though all she could do was lift her hand to try and rub the pain from her temples. When her eyes opened she found that it was dark, and she heard the echoing drips of water reverberate through the place. It was a cave. She thought she might have still been dreaming, but the pain in her head and hands made it clear she was not.

"Finn?" She tried, though was met with no response other than the reverberating echo.

She moved towards the light of the entrance, squinting against the low light of the day. She glanced down at her hands, finding that they were swollen with scratches and puncture wounds. What had she done? She lifted her hand against the light, attempting to shield her eyes as she looked out over the horizon. She could smell meaty-leafed plants and a variety of strange animal life, but there was nothing there of her companions. She couldn't see the Falcon anywhere - couldn't even see the damage of the foliage where it might have landed. How could she have gotten so far away from it?

There was an emptiness that made her uneasy - a sort of silence that she hadn't experienced since her force sense had been "turned on", so to speak. She wanted to yell their names, but she realized it might have not been a good idea to draw too much attention to herself as it was. She reached out with the tendrils of her mind, though the path of her companions was frustratingly muddled. They were here, but not there, there and then gone. Alive, but out of reach. They must have survived the submersion, but how had she ended up here? If her hands were any indication, she had found her way here - though when she searched her thoughts she found she could claim no memory of it.

She struck out into the jungle, grabbing a few rocks and placing them into her pockets before finding a long, somewhat heavy stick that would have to do as a weapon should she need it. Her lightsaber had been with the Falcon, and she had no idea if it had even survived. There were trails here and there - suggesting that some sort of life form had walked the paths, though some of them wound around in odd fashions, and some of them were completely overgrown, causing her to have to hack down a particularly stinky vine that released a putrid smell every time it was broken. Eventually the smell became so overwhelming that she discontinued hacking at the vines, and tried to find her way around or underneath them.

The rain came in fits; first a sprinkle and then a heavy, sideways torrent that forced Rey to stall her progress and find shelter under one of the large, fetid trees that graced the Island. The large, tear drop shaped leaves kept her out of the way of the cold pelt of water, but it had gotten to a point where she was so soaked that she could not tell the difference. The water was strong, though, and the wind even more so, and she found herself tired - the lack of sleep over the past few days dragging her down. Normally, she was energetic, but she found herself just wanting to sleep.

Eventually, the rain would stop, and her clothing would dry with such a startling veracity that it was as if she had never been wet at all. Of course, the humidity felt as if it was even more sapping than the rain, and by the time she came upon what looked to be a small village, she was thankful that she might find some shelter. The sun was setting, and it had gotten to be cold. It reminded her of Jakku, and she found she was enjoying her time here just about as much.

When she finally came upon what looked to be a small outpost, it was carved into the heavy vines and trees that were almost strangling the island. She felt relief at first, but when she took her first few strides into the area she found that the place was a ghost town. Doors stood open, there were stalls full of rotting food and the dust that coated the items left standing alone in homes made Rey realize that the place had been devoid of life for a long time. She paused briefly, examining a small doll that had been overturned and abandoned in the middle of the lane that connected all of the living spaces. It was as much a town as Jakku had been, though there was no bustle of activity, and no one was scavenging for parts to pay for food.

Rey closed her eyes after a thorough examination of the area, her brows dropping into a furrow as she reached out with tentative tendrils, trying to seek out some sort of life force. There was nothing. So much nothing that she wondered if it was something. She heard something shift behind her, a sort of rustle in the foliage which caused her eyes to shoot open. She spun around, hoping to catch sight of a friendly face. Where had the rest of her friends gone?

It wasn't Finn. Or Poe. It was a young girl, who looked to be no older than fifteen. Her hair was a wild, dark rats nest on her head, and Rey found herself gripping the stick she had been using to walk in a fashion that meant she might suddenly swing it like a weapon. The girl didn't shamble, but her walk was a slow sort of concurrence, and it was often jerky, as if she was in some sort of pain - or as if something was holding her back (or pushing her forward).

Rey steadied her feet, though the girl was not yet moving as such a speed to cause her alarm - her overall appearance was sinister. The closer she got, the more Rey found to be wrong with her. Her eyes were a glowing sort of purple putrescence. Rey did not think she had ever seen such a color occur naturally, but her small universe had been widened of late. The girl had a swipe of oily black substance across her mouth, and Rey instantly recognized it as the putrid oil that had been spilling from the vines as she'd been hacking them away. Rey lifted her hand, drawing the energy around her to try to stall the girl in her tracks. Something about the jerky way that she moved told Rey that there would be no use in trying to talk sense to her.

Rey couldn't have expected the girl to push back, with such a force that it threw her back off of her feet, air knocked from her lungs as her back connected with the dirt. She coughed, rolling to the side to try and regain her breath before she scrambled backwards, standing and finding her feet again. She was prepared to face off against the girl, retrieving her makeshift weapon and facing her once again, now covered in the muddy dirt she'd slid into. She spit some of the grainy material from her mouth, finding it just as distasteful as the smell of the vines.

As she stood, Rey's gaze was drawn from the girl, out into the ever darkening horizon. She realized with some discomfort, that there was more than just the one pair of glowing eyes. A whole bevy of them blinked out in the darkness, and she realized that there would be no fight here that she might win - not against the sheer numbers. They were like wolves on the hunt. She had only ever faced off against one other force user, and though she had won the fight, she found that the thought of fifty force users was almost as unsettling as he was. She turned, and ran.

By the time she was out of breath, she felt she had been running for hours. There was no real shelter from the rain, but somehow the intense unpleasantness of the "town" seemed to dissipate the more distance she put between herself and it. She still had no indication of her friends, or where they were, and she began to dread the thought that they had come up against those things before she had. She didn't like running from a fight, but even Rey recognized the insanity of trying to fight a huge number of people in the state she was in.

In fact, the situation was looking more dire the longer it went on. Each time she reached out with the force, she was met with nothing but dead air. No remnants or whispers of her friends. Rey couldn't imagine that she had lost the ability just as quickly as she had gained it. No, there was something other going on, and she wagered the events were connected. As night had fallen, the planet had gotten even more muddled and less friendly. There were bugs aplenty, and each time Rey swatted one away they left behind a small spot of her blood and a small itchy bump that became more maddening each time another bite was left behind. She began to regret any bits of exposed skin.

When the skyward spires of a tall building began to appear on the horizon, Rey began to find relief. Of course, the twitchy thought at the back of her mind warned her that it might just be another ambush. However, she was exhausted, and she just wanted a place to rest her head for the night (and maybe avoid the onslaught of blood sucking bugs that had accosted her). She began to bargain with herself. Just make it another mile. And another. And another.

Eventually, after so much bargaining, Rey found herself standing in front of a huge temple. It was old, with the ceiling having fallen in, but she thought there might be enough of a cover left to spend the night there. Something in her recognized the markings carved into the sandstone that curved around the old electronically locked door. Her hands brushed the markings, and though she put no effort to it, the door responded to her - opening with ease.

Rey stepped inside of the temple, and she was expecting a sort of draftiness that never came. The temple was just as humid, especially now that the rain had stopped (again). Rey drifted through the empty corridors, and realized that this place had also been empty for a very long time. She followed the hallways, finding a sort of atrium that would do well as a cover, considering it had most of it's roof left - and the bugs seemed uninterested in this place.

Rey drifted, her mind on things that she could not speak of - until she came upon an area that looked as though it had recently had life in it. There was evidence that a fire had been lit within a circle of stones, and recently doused. The coals were still smoldering. She wondered at it, before she came across a pack which had been left, but wasn't totally empty. There was food, and water, and she was so hungry that her stomach garbled angrily at the thought of it. When she turned her mind from her stomach, she realized this might have been one of her companions, until she spotted the first order insignia on the hefty black pack.

Suddenly, she was on alert again. She couldn't imagine how the first order had found this place, though they were experts at following the whole lot of the alliance around the galaxy these days. Angrily, she kicked the thing over. She leaned down after arguing silently with herself for a few moments, pulling the thing open and yanking out it's contents with some childish ferocity. It was a disappointing measure, as it was just a few personal items and a change of clothing. The only thing of interest glinted silver in the low light, but her attention was pulled from further examining it when she heard another shuffle. Her senses were awry in this place, and she was frustrated with herself for being caught off guard again.

She turned in the direction of the noise, her hand reaching into her pocket and picking one of the heftier stones she'd chosen earlier. If she was going to be forced to fight a horde full of poisoned townies, at least she would try to get the jump on them. She threw the stone with force and precision, feeling the rough grain of it slide from her fingertips as it left her hand. It was something she was already good at, but she couldn't help but feel the tingle of the force as it flew towards it's target.

It landed it's mark, though she was stopped from going for a second stone when she heard the thing 'knock' forcefully against skull and fall with a 'thud' to the ground beneath. The man reached for his head, drawing it away with finger pads stained red. It was hard to mistake him; even without his traditional garb he had a sort of presence that made itself immediately obvious. A moment of childish rage crossed his features, and Rey thought he might pick the stone up and lob it back at her. The boyish expression smoothed away, his features placid. She was shocked, so much so that she stood there staring at him for what seemed like a very long time.

His military clothing had been shed, likely due to the heat. He remained in a black, standard undershirt. His general look was one of disarray, though from the waist down his uniform appeared mostly unchanged. He was smudged with mud, and his lengthy dark hair had been pulled back into a low hanging ponytail. His features betrayed none of the shock that she was sure hers did, though looking at him now she wondered if he always looked so conflicted. The gash on his forehead leaked, but he seemed unaware of it. Rey questioned if he was real each time she saw him, but when she dreamed of him it was as she had first met him, his face lit up with the red glow of his lightsaber, his form lumbering through the snow as if he was a creature run on adrenaline alone. Somehow she knew she wasn't dreaming.

There had been a time when everything in her had wanted to kill him. She found herself conflicted now, forced into something uncomfortable with him. She felt as if she knew him better than she knew anyone, and she wondered if he felt the same. They both seemed to have the same moment of recognition. If they killed each other, their likelihood of getting off of this forsaken rock got smaller. Even she could recognize the benefit of having him here, and she attempted to assuage her stormy thoughts by pointing out that despite him being what he was that he was useful in some capacity.

"You have good aim," He reached up to wipe the blood from his face, wiping it on his pant leg.

"Ben," She muttered.


	2. Into the Void

A ghost of an expression crossed his features, moving them from their otherwise placid nature. Rey had seen the look before, as if he was not sure how he felt about her calling him that name. The other felt foreign to her tongue now, as if he could never be Kylo Ren to her again. His eyes bore holes into her, as if glaring at her might impress upon her all of the thoughts he was currently having. She felt that spark of a connection as her eyes met his, but she promptly ignored it. She had questions for him, but none sprung to her lips, making her feel dumb as well as mute.

He came forward, taking a few steps in her direction. She had always been struck by the way he moved. She could imagine his limbs growing four inches overnight and he had never quite learned how to move them. It didn't stop him from being dangerous - she had seen enough of him to know that. He came to stand right in front of her, staring down at her for a moment before he slung another pack from his shoulder and dropped it to the ground with a heavy thump. It echoed oddly through the atrium, causing her to look out into the area he had come from. Out in the night there were a thousand sparkling eyes, blinking.

She swallowed heavily. She must have looked terrified, because it prompted Ben to speak.

"They won't come here,"

"How do you know?" She muttered, watching as he moved to rekindle the fire that had obviously been lit the prior night. She wondered how long he had been here...and what were the odds that they'd end up on the same planet? Had Leia somehow known?

"They come out at nightfall," He shuffled, opening the pack he'd dropped and tossing the dry bits of wood and plant matter into the pit. "They go somewhere during the day. I've been following them at sunrise, but I haven't found out where they go,"

"The force is being drained by something," She said.

"I know," He replied.

She turned, watching him. "What are you-" She was stopped from her questioning when a resounding sort of noise began echoing from the night. It was a million voices howling out in a strange guttural tone. Rey felt and unsettling turn of stomach the moment it started, and tensed.

Ben looked up, glancing at her with a drip of his heavy brow. Was it concern? "They will go on like that all night," He said, his tones hushed.

"It's horrible," She replied, turning to look out at the vast array of eyes staring back at them in the dark. It was almost as if something else was using their vocal cords to communicate, and it resembled a spooky sort of throat singing.

He pointed up, his eyes moving to the sky. When Rey followed the motion with her eyes, she found a clear sky full of glittering, brilliant stars. She glanced back to him. Her confusion must have been apparent on her face. After he had sparked a fire, he stood up, wiping his hands on his dusty pants. As if it was helping him get any cleaner at all.

"I try to focus on that," He said simply. "It will stop before sunrise. It's usually better to sleep during the day. I'll keep watch if you'd like to try,"

The silent pact was struck again then. They would go on trying to save each other's lives.

"You're bleeding," She pointed again to his head.

He said nothing, retrieving the pack that she'd just been rifling through and digging around for medical gel. When he retrieved it, Rey looked for that same glint of silver but found herself disappointed. She watched him swipe a few times at the blood that was leaking out of the gash, but he never quite cleared it up. She felt somewhat responsible, but she was too on edge to really feel any sort of guilt for pelting him in the head. She recalled what he had said to her the last time they had met and felt even less sympathy for him, but she came forward and took the gel from him.

"Let me,"

His broad fingertips flexed, grasping the packet before he decided to let her take it from him. There was always something youthful in his face, and something haunted in his eyes. It made her uncomfortable to stare at him for too long. She made brief eye contact before leaning down to examine the gash. It looked worse than it was, but it was bleeding. She ripped a piece of her robe, leaving a jagged edge and using it to wipe away the blood - pressing it firmly against the cut to staunch the flow. He gave no indication that it even bothered him. He took the piece of fabric from her fingertips, pressing it tight against the wound while she cut into the packaging of the gel. It came with an applicator, but she knew from experience that it didn't work very well, so she swiped the blue colored concoction on her fingertips.

She pressed it against the now "clean" gash, watching as it did it's remarkable work in healing the wound. It wasn't completely healed, but it had stopped bleeding. Of course, it was no kolto tank, either. Still, she was satisfied to see he was no longer oozing. She touched the wound with tentative fingertips, examining it with some closeness before she realized what she was doing and awkwardly leaned away from him. His fingers caught her wrist, forcing her to pause.

"Thank you," He had a way of making the simplest phrases sound pregnant with meaning.

"Don't thank me. I was the one who pelted you with a rock,"

The corners of his lips twitched, but there was no real smile.

She slid her hand from his quickly, the shock of it wasn't as powerful as it had been the first time, but each time they held hands it was like galaxies spun out in front of both of them.

He pressed his fingertips to his forehead, standing to his full height and retrieving the bedraggled cloak she had often seen him wearing. It had a few tears, and when he held it out to her she stared at the offering as if it might explode.

"It's going to get cold," His tone, always clipped. Militant.

She took it, after a few moments. He was right, it did get cold. She fell asleep easily, despite the unearthly bellowing, her eyes blinking shut against her will - the last picture of him against the backdrop of the stars burned into her retinas.

Rey was comforted by the fact that he was there, loathe as she was to admit it.

When she woke up, she found it was brighter than she had expected. She squinted against the light, lifting her hand to shield herself against it. She sat up, rubbing her temples. The awful, gut wrenching sound of the night had ceased, and when she moved, Ben's cloak pooled around her. It had grown warm again, and she was quick to remove it from her shoulders. She balled it up in a charade of having folded it and set it aside, with his belongings. Rey gave a leonine stretch, squinting again before her eyes adjusted to the light. She expected to find him there, but after spinning around a few times she realized he was not. Had he been a figment of her frankly oftentimes delusional imagination?

She looked around the "camp site", finding that he had left behind a portion of food for her. It consisted of some tough, dried meat and a piece of bread that was almost too hard to eat, but after boiling herself water over the remnants of the fire and dunking it into the military rationed "tea" he left behind she found it was edible. It might have been the best meal she'd ever had considering how hungry she was. There were no notes, nothing indicating where he had gone.

Didn't he sleep?

She refilled her pockets with sizable stones and found the stick she had picked up the day before and prepared herself to go out again. She thought with some rest, she might be more capable of facing the strange planet alone. She paused before releasing herself from the barrier of the destroyed temple. She wondered what it meant that he was there, and she wanted to ask him. Besides, wouldn't it have been better to try and trapeze this place together? She second guessed herself when she thought of what Finn (and Poe) might say.

Rey was disrupted from her thoughts when she heard a high careening noise. It took her a few seconds, but she realized it was a whistle. She wondered if it was more of the disrupted, howling for blood. She followed the noise and found that it wasn't coming from outside but from within. She followed the noise, and it lead her straight back to the campfire. It was coming from Ben.

She was a little taken aback by him in the daylight. The sun had started to turn his skin to brown, and lo he was dirty, it was quite a difference from the deathly pallor he often displayed. He looked almost...normal. He was pulling blankets and items out of the pack that he'd taken with him.

"Whistling for your dog?" She asked, almost playfully.

He looked up, almost surprised. "No, for you,"

"How did you know I was still here?"

"I didn't," He said, tossing her a blanket which she caught. "It was a guess,"

She glanced at the blanket in her hands. She wanted to ask what it was for, but after some thought she found she knew the answer. He pulled out more than one, draping them out where he'd been laying the night before. He tossed her another, obviously expecting her to do the same thing...obviously expecting that she was going to stay.

"I have to find the others," She said, a sort of finality to her tone that she knew he would pick up on.

He paused, briefly. He dropped the blanket down and turned to glance at her, a wisp of his dark hair falling into his face. She was always struck at how boyish he was. She had an urge to push it away from his features, and she grabbed her own hand to keep herself from doing it.

"You mean the rebel scum,"

It was if he had slapped her. Her defenses went up, immediately.

He took a few steps forward, as if he was attempting not to crush glass under his feet.

"They are my friends," She said through gritted teeth. "Something I'm sure you have no experience of,"

There, then. It was as if she had slapped him back. She was the one who spoke first. "We shouldn't fight," She murmured. "Looking at you, I am wondering if your situation is as dire as mine is,"

He didn't reply, instead he chose to examine her. The last words he'd said to her before this excursion echoed in her head. 'You are nothing. Say it.' She wanted to fight against it, but he had been right. Nothing. And yet, she was something. Rey could still see her reflection in his eyes, after all. She wasn't afraid of him.

"I will help you find them," He offered. "But you shouldn't go alone,"

Rey had not said it, but she had tentatively agreed to allow herself to stay in his company when the night fell, and they would work together during the day to gather supplies and try to find out where it was her missing companions were. Ben had ideas. During the day he had followed the townies, though they were always too fast for him, he tracked where they had left detritus and destruction in their wake. He drew a map for her in the sand that night, just as the strange bellowing had begun. Rey couldn't help but see the cliche of it, that it all seemed to be drawing to the center. The next morning they would strike out together and see what they could find. After relying on the force so often and finding it taken so suddenly, Ben was no babe in the dark - but Rey felt strangely naked. Neither of them were without skills, but the extra power had perhaps been a crutch for both of them.

"What is this place?" Rey finally asked, once the map had been half smudged with a boot print.

"I'm not sure," He said, glancing up towards the stars. "I think it might have once been a Jedi temple,"

"That's odd," She said, more to herself than to him. "Would that explain why they don't come here?"

"If I could sense the force..." He paused. "Well, you're aware. But the text on the corridors and entrances is enough to convince me that it's true,"

"What are you doing here, Ben?" They were sitting on opposite sides of a fire he'd started, and she dared to look up at him.

"I was following a distress signal,"

"A distress signal? From this planet?"

He didn't say anything in reply, his stony silence something she was growing used to. The look on his face seemed invariably torn as to whether or not he should answer her. Or perhaps that was merely her take on it. He was even harder to read in this state.

"Alright," She muttered. "So what happened when you got here?"

"Strange electrical storm, ship stopped operating, found myself here," He said, his voice clipped as he cut off each word in a chop.

"How long have you been here?"

"Four...maybe five days," He admitted.

Of course, Rey had experienced almost exactly the same thing, except she had woken up having dragged herself somewhere and without her companions.

"Where's your ship?"

"Disappeared into a bog," He murmured. Ah, so his situation might even be more dire than hers was. Of course, she hadn't seen what had happened to the Falcon. "Luckily after I had pulled myself out of it,"

Rey was silent, her brain trying to piece together what exactly was going on. She was counting out the strange occurrences when Ben spoke again.

"Rey, I'm glad you're here," He almost choked it out, and it made he realize how hard it was for him to say.

She felt a strange sort of electricity when he said her name, and it obviously caught her off guard.

She was distracted from even replying to him, and the moment she opened her mouth they were both distracted by a series of loud noises. At first, it sounded as if something incredibly large was moving through the undergrowth. Then the loud cracking came, almost deafening, as one great tree fell right after another. Rey attempted to dart out into the night as they came to a place where they could view where the din was coming from, but Ben stepped right in front of her. She had a lot of strength, but he was a bit like a large wall. His arm caught around her, preventing her from moving any further. She didn't struggle, instead remembering all of those blinking, putrid eyes that surrounded them. They were playing an old game of 'the floor is lava', and the moment she stepped away from the temple she was fair game.

"It could be them," She said, grasping his arm with the thought to throw it away from her.

His eyes flashed in the dark.

"It isn't," He said, so much surety in his tone that she had to believe him.

She reached out with the force out of habit, and instead of finding that it was futile, she found something there. Something so large and swirling with so much energy it was hard to make out what it was. The further she pushed against it, the more it swallowed her energy. Each time she thought she got close to seeing what it was, it slipped further away - until she came so close - just another push - and then nothing but overwhelming blackness as she was thrown backwards off of her feet and unconscious into the brush.

There was dreaming, but nothing that Rey could grasp onto. A series of colors and lights as if one had their eyes closed against the sun. She could hear voices, but one stood out among the rest. Of course, he spoke so softly and in a dull murmur so it was hard to make out what he was saying, but eventually it drew her from her sleep.

She blinked, her vision blurry. When it finally cleared, she found Ben was sitting next to her. His face was concerned. He had that same look when Luke had drawn his saber on him, but something was different. She sat up, wobbling. Ben shifted to try and catch her, but she held up her hand to stop him. He did. She reached up, touching the back of her head. There was a bump of considerable size, but no blood. She had to count that as lucky.

She groaned, obviously irritated that she'd passed out, again. Ben was there, and he offered her a small cap full of water. She sipped at it, though what she really could have used was ice. She rubbed her head, finding the bump felt sort of as if she'd knocked her funny bone on something heavy. Ben poured her some more water, handing it over and pulling his knee up to his chest, slinging his arm over it. Somewhere along the way, he'd washed his face, but she could see the stubble growing in. It made him look older - less like a fresh faced boy.

"You have something stronger?" She asked, flinching at the loudness of her own voice before handing the cap back.

He nearly laughed, a small ghost of a smile revealing his row of teeth before he seemed to control himself. He merely shook his head and handed over another cup full of water. She sipped at it until it was empty again, holding it against her middle as if it were a warm mug of something else.

"It happened to me too," He admitted.

"The blow back?"

"Yes. Whatever it is doesn't want us to know what it is,"

"You could have warned me,"

"I could have, but you wouldn't have listened," There, another ghost of a smile.

"How do you know?"

"I know that you go right to the center of a problem when you have one," He said simply. "You would have done it anyway,"

"Was that a joke?" Both of her brows arched heaven-ward in her surprise.

As if scolded, his eyes dropped to the ground below. He must have been a very awkward boy - even then he seemed to struggle with forming words. So much was said with his features, in any case. She looked back, realizing he'd rolled a blanket up to mimic a pillow, and had again draped her with his strangely woven cloak. This one was complete, and not torn. She ran her fingers over it, handing it back over to him.

"You must get cold," She tried, again.

He shook his head, standing up. He left behind the water in case she wanted more, though she had to wonder where he'd been getting it from. She worried about consuming anything off of this planet, considering what she'd seen when she'd first explored. He moved to sit back across the dying campfire. Rey noticed the bellowing had stopped, which might have been more unsettling than the noise. She had grown somewhat used to it, after all.

"Ben," She said, sitting up fully and rubbing at the bump on her head again. He looked at her, his face as listless as ever. "I'm going to move over there,"

He merely nodded as she stood, gathering up all the blankets he'd thrown down and relocating them so that they could both keep an eye on the surrounding area - and the stars. It felt a bit like a sleep over, with both of them chatting occasionally until they both fell prey to sleep, at least for a few hours before sunrise.

Ben woke with a purpose that morning. Rey didn't out sleep him by much, the sun glaring in her eyes preventing her from sleeping after it rose. She found him stuffing blankets into his pack and trying to gather up all of the items that they'd spread out over the past few nights. He tossed her an empty pack as she was blinking the sleep out of her eyes, which she caught, afterwards examining him with some curiosity. She followed his example and began stuffing items into it, rolling up her blankets and whatever else would fit. Ben had enough water and food to last them a few days, and Rey wondered if he had known more than he let on.

They didn't talk. She gathered up whatever he couldn't fit, and then they spent a few minutes breaking fast over the dying embers of the fire. She was thankful he at least had his lightsaber. He tossed bilge water on top of the fire and watched as it smoked before he tied the length of his dark hair back and swung the pack onto his back. Rey did the same, not having time to tie her hair into it's signature look, merely pulling the length of it back into one bun.

She followed him down into the area where the trees had been knocked over the night before. There were many footprints, mostly all bare, and a few drag marks, but Rey couldn't see anything that might indicate the size of whatever it had been. Was it possible the infected people they had come across had done this? What was the reason? Ben circled the area, but he didn't seem to find whatever it was he was looking for - and they continued on.

The day was hot, all the way through. There was none of the rain that Rey had experienced on the first night, though she began to wish for it. The heat and humidity were draining, and she realized that their water supply might dwindle a bit more quickly because of it. They would die from lack of water before they even figured out how to get off of the planet. They didn't talk much, simply hiking together in a silence that might be considered companionable. The silence didn't bother Rey, she didn't find herself wanting to fill it.

Ben seemed to have an idea of where they were going, as they walked with purpose for most of the day. Rey began to feel uneasy as the sun began to dip lower in the horizon, but it was just in time for them to come to a very large cave that had been partially stacked up with rocks. Rey could see a sort of bioluminescent glow coming from the opening. Oddly, the footsteps stopped a few feet away, creating a smooth ring in the sand all around the area. Apparently, they didn't like going to this place either.

"Do you think this is where they're going?" She missed her ability to float rocks when they had to begin pulling them away with their bare hands.

"No," Ben replied simply. "The foot steps don't go past a certain point. I think whatever is down here might be what's left of the life on this planet. Whatever the creatures are that are up here were obviously once human...like," He added on, chucking another heavy rock aside with a grunt.

Once they made a big enough hole in the entrance, Ben slid down the rocks into the dark. Rey, after a few minutes pause - followed.

(hoohoohoo~ i forget that erases my page breaks sorrreeee, please leave reviews and likes if you like it, helps me to keep going)


	3. Unto the breach

It was dark, but not dark enough that they couldn't see. The stone had strange veins of light in it, purple and blue - almost like the eyes of the people above. They made their way along in the dark, Ben sometimes being too tall and having to crouch down to get through some of the tighter corridors. It never quite closed off, and Rey got the feeling the path had been traveled before. It was almost as if they were being lead.

Little by little, Rey began to feel that empty phantom limb return, as if the farther away they got from the surface of the planet, the more the force was allowed to flow. She suddenly felt Ben's presence with stunning intensity. He had draped his cloak back over his broad shoulders - and she paused to unravel a blanket from her pack, draping it around her own. They were bedraggled and silent, but Rey was thankful not to hear the unearthly bellowing that had been so present - like a bug buzzing in her ear - for the past few nights.

Rey expected to find that she was uneasy, but the more her ability returned to her, the more at ease she felt. It was like taking a drink of water after a long time of going without. Ben must have felt it too, as he seemed reinvigorated. He was still prowling, his back tense. They were both still hyper aware that at any moment, the other shoe might drop. As the light dimmed, Rey heard the odd swish of Ben's lightsaber as he activated it, using it for light. He was lit with that odd red glow, his features even more prominent in the light. She examined him, thoughtlessly, until he noticed he was being studied and glanced at her.

She imagined what she must look like to him, tired and dire in the low light of his unstable saber. She found herself put to a pause as they looked at each other, her brow dropping in curiosity as they examined one another. They both turned in each other's directions as the red light of the saber flickered before completely disappearing. It was very dark, and Rey's eyes had partially adjusted to it - so when she reached out for him she found her mark easily. He was warm, and she felt an overwhelming desire to move nearer, be nearer. They both paused, a beat of silent understanding passing between them. And then, her hair stood on end as he came nearer to her, leaning in and down as she leaned up.

It was a kiss. A simple kiss.

At first, it was a simple touching of lips. A moment of the both of them pressing together. Rey thought it might end there, but Ben surprised her. He was tentative, and testing, and she felt the warmth of his tongue brushing on her lips. Her lips parted and the hairs at the back of her neck stood up as he began to test the boundaries.

She had to admit there was something fumbling about the kiss. It was as if he had little experience of kissing - but she also had to admit that neither did she. It was merely physical reaction, quickly becoming more heated as they got nearer to one another. It was his arms drawing around the small of her waist, it was her body being pressed back against the cold stone and an awkward gasp escaping her lips as the cold stone connected with her skin.

He paused briefly, though they connected again after she seemed to settle with the chill of the stone. It was the closest she could think she had ever been to someone, excepting when Finn, though they had only hugged. Before she had time to gather her thoughts, the cave lit up with a brilliant flash of multi-colored light. Ben pulled away, and she was close enough to feel the wash of his warm breath on her lips before they both looked around them in surprise.

His large hands had come into full contact with the cold stone, having previously boxed her in against him. He was what was causing the light. The threads of light that had been dimly lighting their way were bright, almost blinding. It wasn't long before the sound of marching steps began to assault them from all sides - forcing Ben to pull away. Back to back, they waited.

They had been outnumbered at the outset. Rey thought that Ben might have cut a few of the strange creatures down, but they had both been frozen in place. They were small, goblin-like, though resembling creatures of the deep. They had fish-belly pale skin and their eyes had the same glow of the cave, though they were unlike those above. Rey noticed that obviously, someone was home behind their strange eyes. Rey noticed a small set of razor-like teeth and knew that if they tried to fight, they might not survive, although it seemed like they had beaten worse odds before.

The smallest one began the chanting.

In the dark it was hard to tell, but it looked as if the little creature was chewing on some sort of animal head, sharp teeth red with it's blood. Rey felt her stomach turn, and she felt the line of Ben's back tense against her own. They would be like army ants, pulling the both of them apart with ease. At first it was hard to tell what they were chanting, but once they all started up Rey realized it was a single word. Jedi. Jedi. Jedi. They were focused on Ben, and Rey briefly considered running, but she thought that they might have more of a chance if the little things didn't realize that she was force-sensitive too.

They flew at Ben all at once, which caused Rey to shout his name - but before she knew it the littlest one had sunk it's teeth into Ben's hand, causing him to deactivate and drop his saber. They scrambled around it, hunkering down like it was some sort of fire to keep themselves warm by before one of them got brave and picked it up, chucking it down the length of the cave where Rey wasn't sure she even heard it land. He was like a huge overwrought beast trying to shake and spin them off, but each time they got one off of him, three more seemed to take it's place.

Rey fought them with gusto, but after what seemed like forever, Ben finally slowed his jarring motions and sunk to his knees. Rey continued to fight, until he spoke again.

"Stop fighting them," He spoke with authority, throwing his hands up in the air.

She had seen him on his knees before, but never like this - never with two fish-like goblins hanging from each of his biceps.

She was overpowered easily enough, forced to her knees like he was. She exclaimed, and cursed, and even tried to bargain with them, but the little creatures seemed wholly uninterested in what she was saying. They just kept chanting until they were both bound up in what felt like spiders web, gossamer until several layers of it had been applied and all that was free was their legs. It was strong, and tight, and Rey found she was having a difficult time breathing as they were both forced to stand up and begin what felt like a death march.

It felt like they had been marching for hours. They were silent and grim, though the little creatures didn't seem to be either of those things. After they had stopped chanting, they began running ahead and rolling around like children until one of the older ones barked at them and they were all back in formation. It never lasted, and eventually Rey began to feel like they might not have ill intentions. It would be nice if they weren't tied up, though. They were a little less trusting of Ben, who was about five heads taller and whom they had decided was a Jedi.

"You have all the luck," She finally murmured, nearly stumbling as one of the little fish creatures weaved between her legs, giving a scratchy sort of giggle. Occasionally, they would nip at their legs to get them to speed up, but it always seemed to be in play. They were already covered in bug bites, what were a few more bite bites?

"You seem to bring it with you," He replied, moving aside for another one of them to push past him. They were like sylphs of light, their eyes leaving behind a trail of light in their wake.

"Are you insinuating that this is my fault?" She asked, incredulously, her memories flashing to the kiss.

"No, though storms seem to follow you," His voice was calm. Where was the rage she had come to know from him?

She scoffed, and they returned to their uneasy silence.

* * *

The pathways became claustrophobic, before they opened up into a big, glowing area. They both paused in amazement as a good deal of the creatures dispersed. It was difficult to believe that these creatures had created something so beautiful, but it didn't seem as if anyone else could have done it. There were small structures caved into the walls, the stone broken away from the veins of light that lit the area in a sort of magical array of colors. It was strangely geometric, and it was obvious families or clusters of these creatures occupied each of the dwellings.

There was flora and fauna, allowed to grow because the putrid vines had yet to find their way down here. It was humid, and fragrant, but not unpleasant. Rey could hear moving water, and the chatter of life that was so desperately missing from the world above. They were both wrangled to their knees again when they were brought to the center of the area, and a grouping of creatures who were taller and less jovial made themselves apparent.

"Jedi?" A skinny finger was pointed at Ben. The remaining children nodded their heads.

Ben said nothing. Rey did.

"He's not a Jedi,"

The tallest of them turned his strange gaze on her. She could tell he was the leader, despite his simple look - he had a sort of commanding air.

"Light vein don't respond to non-Jedi," He barked out in broken common.

"The Jedi are gone," She responded sharply. She knew she could show the same ability he did, but when she looked at him, she saw Ben give a subtle shake of his head. The leader came nearer to her, examining her very closely. Ben still remained silent, though the lost look she saw so often from him was strangely missing. She wasn't exactly lying. The last of them had died a few months ago. Purpose and peace.

The leader of the clan moved from her back to Ben, barking out something in a language she couldn't understand. They began wrangling Ben, which might have been humorous because he was so tall, but she wasn't about to let them take him. Her instincts took over, and she began fighting them off again. The little creatures were overwhelming, holding her back, and Ben disappeared into the dark. She called after him, loudly - and he only gave her a passing look before disappearing. Peace and purpose.

It might have been her voice, reverberating through the caves, but her attention was drawn to a few unlikely people coming from one of the holes carved into the cave. It was Finn, Poe, and Rose. Chewie loomed, though she could see that they had all been stripped of their weapons as well. The overlarge furry Chewie looked even more humorous with fish-children hanging off of him as if he were some sort of jungle gym. He occasionally got free of them, but it was like it had been with Ben - one was shaken and another three found their way onto his back.

"Rey? Rey!" Finn shouted, running over to her and drawing her into a friendly hug. The little creatures scattered, and the adults examined the reunion.

"I'm glad to see you all," She said, relief in her tone. She leaned back from Finn to get a good look at him. They didn't look harmed at all - in fact, by the look on their faces she could tell that she looked worse for the wear.

Rose came to stand at her side, looking her over. Poe came up next to Finn, followed closely by Chewie, who was still trying in vain to get the creatures to stop climbing all over him. He gave a mournful howl before he decided to give up - merely wrapping his arms around Rey in a hug that nearly strangled her. It was funny how often it felt as if Chewie was the mother of them all.

"What happened after you crashed?" Rey asked, her eyes moving between the four of them.

"We woke up in a bog," Poe said. "The Falcon sunk," He sighed. "But we were able to keep it from disappearing completely. It's so covered in muck that it's going to take some time to get it working again,"

"If this planet even allows for a working ship," Rose said, coming to stand closer to Finn.

"How did you end up here?" It had taken her a few days to even find the cave, after all - and she had had Ben's help.

"These little creatures found us after we crashed. They sort of took us hostage, but I don't think they mean any harm. They've been feeding us, made sure all of our clothing was mended and we had a place to sleep," Poe said. "How did you find your way down here?"

"She come with tall Jedi," The leader interjected.

"Tall Jedi?" Finn questioned, punctuated by Chewie giving a questioning noise.

"It's a long story, and I'm really tired," She admitted, hoping to buy herself a few hours before she would have to try to explain it to them. She couldn't imagine how they'd react to Ben, and she needed to find out where they'd taken him.

"Can you cut me out of this?" She wiggled in the spider-gauze.

* * *

Down in the caves it was hard to tell what time of day it was. They had allowed Rey to clean up, which she did gratefully, and when she'd returned to the small room they'd provided to her her clothes had been mended and cleaned...and somehow dried. She glanced around curiously before putting them back on. She wondered if these strange creatures were fairies of some kind, made entirely from tall tales. They had taken the stick she'd fashioned as a weapon, and she watched a few of the smaller ones carry it out and begin swinging it at each other. It was so big that the others went over like bowling balls, and the inertia of the thing carried the little creature with it.

Finn and Rose were sitting together around a fire, though she could not see where Poe had gone. Chewie was still struggling with the creatures - it was almost like he had fleas, but larger. Rey had planned to go out and meet them, and see if she could gather information about where they might have taken Ben, but the relief of being in a place that wasn't terrifying overtook her. In her boots and fully dressed, she crawled into the cot and fell straight to sleep.

She didn't know how long she had slept, but when she woke up there was a small glowing lantern set in the room next to a platter of food. There was a note from Poe. 'It's a little weird, but not bad. Enjoy. -P'. She was hungry, but she only managed to get a few bites down of the strange bread and fruit before she took up her light and exited the cove. She glanced into the lantern, expecting to find some sort of fire but instead; there was liquid, and a million little glowing creatures that floated around without care.

The common area was dark, and lacking the energy of the children. No one remained around the slowly dying fire, and she realized that it was likely everyone had gone to bed. Not even Poe was around, as she had somewhat expected to see him there sitting by the fire. She grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. It was cold down here. She took the lantern with her, silently moving in the direction of the way she'd seen them take Ben.

There were well worn steps carved into the stone, which let out into an area below. She could tell that this was sort of a storage area - she found food and other items being kept there. She gabbed another one of the strangely soft blankets before she continued her search. She had expected a labyrinth, a guard, at least, but there were only a few cells which had also been carved into the stone. She thought that it might have been easy for him to get out of them, but when she raised her light, it revealed him sitting upright on the low carved cot. It didn't look much less comfortable than her room. There was a half eaten plate of food and he looked like he was asleep.

She was glad to find him mostly in one piece.

She didn't take the time to question why she was glad of that, but it didn't stop the tide of relief that flowed through her. She came to stand in front of the small cell, the light swallowing up the darkness with a glow. She looked over his face, and almost as if he could sense her, his eyes opened.

"Rey," He said, simply.

"Ben," She responded in kind, coming to sit in front of the cell. She set the lantern aside and shoved the stolen blanket through the bars. "Thought you might need this,"

He stood up, dragging the blanket through with his broad hand. He seemed thankful, as he quickly wrapped it around his broad, mostly bare shoulders.

"Thank you,"

She felt the need to make promises to him, but she remained silent. He came nearer, sitting down in front of her so that they were face to face.

"Your father would say that we seem to be in this situation a lot," She finally said, breaking the silence.

He flinched, though the look passed quickly.

"My father would say a lot of things," He finally said. He seemed to see his mistake in referring to Han has 'his father', but he couldn't retract it now.

Rey lifted her hand, wrapping it around one of the bars - she found it was sweaty, just like the rest of the cave. Sweaty and chilly, all at once.

"Your mother speaks of you often,"

"I don't want to talk about my mother," Ben looked as if he might be physically ill, and he reached up to brace himself, wrapping his hand around hers.

She was surprised about the warmth of his hand around hers.

"What should we talk about, then?" She asked, curiously. Bemused.

"I think you should have these creatures help you repair your ship," He said. "And you and the others should go,"

She was surprised at his sudden bout of selflessness. It was almost as if he couldn't help it when she was around.

"I'm not leaving you here,"

"What will you say to your friends? How will you explain the presence of a Jedi-killer to them?"

It felt like a challenge. It was a question she didn't know how to answer. Her silenced reigned.

They both sat in silence for a few moments, and Ben's hand dropped away from hers. Rey had not intended to be star-crossed, but she would find a way to get them both out of this situation, even if it meant that half-way back to whatever murderous base he was currently living on he decided to kill her. She knew him, and he knew her - neither of them were alone now. It wasn't as if they could turn away from it now.

"Ben," She finally said. "I'm not leaving you here,"

Both of them were distracted by a clatter that seemed to come from the common area. Ben moved away from the light.

"You should go,"

"I'll come back tomorrow," She promised, but he had already positioned himself back into his position leaning up against the wall with his eyes closed. He looked to be asleep, or meditating. She examined him for a few seconds, at how boyish his features were when his face was slack, but another clatter from the common area caused her to grab the lantern and head back to her cot, where despite trying not to - she fell asleep again.

* * *

The cave seemed brighter during the day, and Rey was woken by Poe dropping by to give her what looked to be breakfast. She woke up, squinting against onslaught of noise before she found him standing there with a plate in hand. She smiled as best she could, creeping to the end of her cot before taking the plate and the mug of warm liquid from him.

"Good morning! They don't have any clue how to make coffee," He finally said. "So I have convinced them that I'm going to do it," He smirked, charming as ever.

"Thank you," She said, groggily. She thought she might not eat, but her stomach betrayed her by growling.

"Come out and join us whenever you're ready," He disappeared as quickly as he'd come.

Rey wiped the sleep from her eyes and left her blanket behind. She grabbed her breakfast and coffee mug, both on beaten tin plates, and found herself in a bevy of activity. Rose, Finn and Poe were all circled around the reinvigorated fire. Chewie was helping the small creatures with something that required someone tall. They had left a seat empty for Rey. Every one said their good mornings, and Rey took it - first taking a sip of the coffee Poe had made. It was strong, but she was thankful for it. She felt safe, but still uneasy. How long could they stay here?

"Tall Jedi?" Finn didn't waste much time, and Rose took a bite from black fruit before glancing between the two of them.

"Finn, we're supposed to help them scavenge this morning," He stepped in, like a gallant knight - trying to change the subject. Rey found it hard to believe, considering that she thought Poe might end up being the angriest of them if he found out that Kylo Ren was down here with them.

"Scavenge?" Rey asked, taking a bite of the bread before poking around at what looked to be some sort of egg. She'd never seen purple eggs before, and she'd never had them scrambled.

"They go above and see what they can find. Supplies from some of the old camps up there. Most of the hunting goes on down here, and there's a lot of vegetation that grows down here," Poe seemed surprised, considering the lack of light. "The oldest of their little tribe have asked to talk to you this morning,"

Rey didn't respond, instead sniffing at the egg before trying it. It wasn't bad, and she was hungry, so she ended up scoffing most of it in a short period of time - leaving Finn and Rose looking somewhat mortified.

"What?" She asked, her mouth still full of egg.

"Nothing," They both said in tandem.

Rose accompanied her to the area where the 'elders' sat. She usually helped them scavenge, but she had agreed to stay with Rey that day. She was thankful for it, even though she and Rose barely knew each other as of yet. She liked Rose's face, and she tended to like anyone Finn liked. Even if Finn was a bit of a coward sometimes, he seemed to have good taste in people. As they mounted the stairs up into the higher area of carved-out houses and buildings, Rey realized they had a sort of mercantile set up. There were shops selling parts, items and food. Rose paused briefly at a booth with parts, though found nothing she needed.

Rey wasn't even sure how she would pay for it, in any case. She was sure they had some sort of currency, but it couldn't have been the currency that was accepted up above. Rose seemed to read her mind.

"They pay each other in favors," Rose said, her fingers wrapping around a capacitor of some kind before putting it back down. "One of them needs something another has, they offer up their services for that thing. It's not a bad system,"

"No," She said, her voice quiet.

"Finn doesn't mean anything," She finally said. "He just cares for you is all,"

"I know. He cares for you, too," Rey said, a smile flickering at her lips.

Rose seemed inordinately pleased by this. Rey could only laugh a bit before they found their way to where they were supposed to be going. Even though the four of them had only been there for a few days, they seemed to get their bearings rather quickly. Rose lead her up the winding stairs, up to the very top most area. It was even more beautiful up higher, closer to the sunlight that she could see peeking in through various crystalline structures. She squinted against it, raising her hand to shield her eyes.

Rose stood at the entrance.

"I'll wait here,"

"Thanks, Rose,"

"Don't thank me yet,"

The inner sanctum was just as lovely as the outer. The only decoration they really seemed to need was the stone, which had been carved and buffed and shaped into other shapes. Rose found the leader sitting in a small area that had been carved out to look like a chair - a group of others sitting around him. They were taller than those below, and Rey could sense the overall gravitas that the collection of creatures had. She felt as if she was being judged, somehow, but she lifted her head and made her way forward.

The eldest of the clutch spoke first.

"You are Jedi?"

She shook her head. She didn't want to lie, but she wasn't, really - and she knew if she had any chance of helping Ben she needed to stay out of the cell.

"How you come to be here?"

"I came with the others. Our ship crashed, we became separated,"

"Tall Jedi was among you?"

"No, he wasn't,"

"Tall Jedi come with beast above?"

"Beast above?" Rey looked confused. Was it possible they were speaking of that strange creature that knocked over trees in the middle of the night?

"You stay with your friends, we keep Jedi,"

"He's not a Jedi," She said, trying to keep the panic from her voice. "Why do you want to keep him?" She thought that if she could figure it out, they might be able to help one another.

"We have need of him," The creature said, in all finality. "You may stay. You go to your friends now,"

Rey found herself ushered back outside. The questioning wasn't as rigorous as she thought it might be, and she found she had gathered a piece of information. Why would these creatures have need of a Jedi? Did it have something to do with whatever was going on at the surface level? Rose looked at her, curiously.

"Are you ever going to tell us who the Tall Jedi is?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, I'm afraid I have to,"

"Let's get something to eat," Rose said, smiling at her. She didn't ask anymore questions about it right then.

They spent a good deal of the day looking through parts and eating food that they could pick up at stalls. It was all interesting, some of it good, some of it not. They talked, but not about anything important. It felt like they were both dancing around the subjects that they maybe most likely wanted to touch on - and by the time they made their way back down Finn, Poe, and Chewie were back.

"How'd it go?" Finn stood up first, and Rose moved over towards him and took his hand.

"Well, I think," Rey admitted, glancing at Poe.

There was an awkward silence, but Poe didn't let it go on for too long.

"So, are you going to tell us who you came with?"

"Ben Solo," Rey swallowed heavily.

"Ben Solo," Finn repeated, as if it were a dirty word.

(OOOEEE a little longer than normal. hope you like!)


	4. Not alone

Finn looked mad. Rey knew it by the tensing of his jaw. It looked like he was grinding his teeth together in an attempt not to say what he wanted to say. Ben Solo was a curse word, considering all he had done to them. She could not blame Finn for his anger, could feel it burning off of him along with a good deal of confusion. He didn't even speak, instead choosing to turn around and walk swiftly away. Rose followed him after shooting Rey a sympathetic look. Poe remained strangely impassive before speaking again.

"Where is he?"

"They took him down to a cell shortly after we arrived," She admitted. "He was touching the stone and it lit up. They think he's a Jedi,"

Poe scoffed, but remained silent.

She felt as if she'd betrayed all of them, and her hands flexed by her side before she took a defeated seat next to the low burning fire. It was just beginning to get chilly, a good indicator that night was falling again. Poe stood for a moment, before sitting down next to her. He looped his arm around her shoulders in a friendly hug that was brief, but Rey was able to choke back the tears she felt welling up.

"No one ever said this 'Force' thing was easy, huh?"

She laughed, sniffling a bit. "No,"

"It must be hard with all of us, considering that none of us understand what that's like,"

"It's lonely sometimes," She admitted. "There's so much of him I didn't know or realize still existed,"

Poe dropped his arm after giving her a squeeze, leaning back a bit.

"Finn will get over it. He's more forgiving than he lets on," Poe sighed. "He talks about you a lot, you were his first friend I think," Poe sighed again. "Just give him some time," After that, he stood up, leaving Rey alone.

Rey found herself drawn back towards the cells with an odd need to hear his voice. She found him in much the same position that he'd been in the night before. He had folded the blanket neatly at the foot of his cot and someone had given him a book. She smiled as she came upon him, finding that the cell made him appear larger, somehow. He was hunched in it like some spectral beast, after all.

"They trusted you with that?" She motioned to the book.

"Aren't they kind?" He asked.

"Why do you stay? I know as well as you that you could easily get out of there,"

He shut the book and looked at her. His face was expressive, but somehow stony - as if she'd just asked him an incredibly stupid question.

"Where would I go? Without-"

Rey wondered what he had been about to say, but moved beyond it.

"Well, you could see if you could make yourself useful and retrieve a ship,"

"I could, but I'm not sure I would be able to find the resources to repair one,"

"Rose could help you with that,"

Ben looked at her, his face betraying the fact that he was surprised.

"You told them?"

"I had to," She sat down in front of him, the bars still between them as the night before. She was almost glad for the barrier. "The little creatures with the sharp teeth kept referring to you as "tall Jedi". It didn't go by unnoticed,"

"Did you find out anymore about why they're keeping me in here?"

"No," She admitted. "My guess is it has something to do with whatever it is on the surface planet,"

"Do you think they mean to sacrifice me to it?"

"Was that a joke?" She laughed, unable to help herself.

"No," His face was blank, that same boyish and owlish look that often crossed his features.

"Are you genuinely worried?" Rey choked back her laughter, unable to help her humor.

"Wouldn't you be?"

This was the man who had taken a bolt to his side and managed to stumble on for a good amount of time, and fight, before collapsing. This was the man whose assistance in a fight had saved her life. She had saved his. She couldn't imagine him being truly afraid of whatever was up there, until she recalled the fact that it seemed to strip them both of their abilities. Still, it didn't completely strip them of their ability to fight, it just disrupted their connection to the thing that made them better at it.

"I'm going to see if I can petition them to let you go. Poe knows you're not a Jedi, and they seem to trust him," She pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to block him out in some physical way. He no longer probed like he had the first time around, but his mere presence felt probing. "But if it's a failure, I think you should break out of here and head back up to the surface,"

"No," He said, simply.

"Why not?" Rey felt herself becoming flustered.

"If you won't leave me, I won't leave you," It felt like a promise. (You're not alone. Neither are you.) "Use Poe, but use your connection to the Force. I doubt they'll recognize it. The only fail safe mechanism they have are those stones. My guess is they learned from the beast that's occupying the upper part of the planet...which is why they don't trust force sensitives. Convince them that neither of us are a threat, and we might be able to help them get rid of it. I've noticed a good deal of them carrying around texts," It made sense, he had a good deal of time to watch. "We might be able to learn something,"

"I wonder what keeps it from coming down here," Rey went silent. She wish she could say she was thinking of their predicament, but when he mentioned those stones her mind went to what had happened briefly before it. Ben hadn't mentioned it, and she wondered if they were both just going to ignore it.

As if on cue she looked up to find him looking directly at her.

"Rey, I-" He didn't get a chance to finish, as a few of the creatures came chittering by, indicating that she should leave the tall Jedi to his cell.

She looked back as she was shuffled off, reaching out with the tendrils of her mind.

(I'll be back tomorrow.)

Ben simply nodded his head and turned away.

* * *

When she got back to the camp fire, Finn and Rose hadn't returned. She didn't know where they had gone, but she decided that it was probably a good time to leave them to themselves. She was curious about Poe, though, and wondered where he had gotten off to. Ben's words kept repeating themselves in her head, giving her a new purpose. She needed to ask him for his help.

She began with asking around, Poe was noticeable and a lot of people seemed to know him. He stood out, even though they'd only been there for a few days. She thought it better not to bother Rose, or Finn, as she wasn't even sure what she would say to Finn about Ben. She knew that it was unlikely that Finn would be in agreement in helping him get out of that cell. She wandered in the direction she had last seen him going, asking the alien like creatures if anyone had seen them. Most of them had a basic understanding of common, but when they spoke with each other they used a series of clicks and trills.

Finally, one of them pointed in the direction that they had seen him going, and Rey followed. She found him sitting around another fire, a copse of crystalline structures all around. The creatures were all around, and one of them appeared to be telling a story of some kind. She doubted Poe could understand, but BB-8 was at his side, likely translating if he could. Rey stood there for a few moments watching the scene before she came up and found a seat next to Poe. He smiled in her direction, but he seemed to know that she needed to talk to him.

He stood up from the fire and she followed him, leaving BB-8 there to continue listening to the story that was being told. Poe stopped when they were a good distance off and they faced one another. They stared each other down until Rey got brave enough to ask him what she wanted to ask him.

"I need your help," She admitted.

"With what?"

"Ben," She paused. "We have to find a way to get him out of that cell,"

"I don't think they mean him any harm,"

"But what if they do? There's something up on the surface that's causing all of that misery, and it seems to be force related. What if they think he's the cause?"

"Maybe he is," Poe said, flatly.

Rey found herself caught off guard by the statement. "He can't have been,"

"How do you know?"

"Because whatever is going on up there has obviously been going on for a long time. He landed here around the same time we did,"

"And you don't think that's strange?"

"I know you have no reason to believe anything that comes out of his mouth," Rey finally said. "But I know him,"

"If I agree to help you and he ends up murdering all of us, what then?"

"Well then I suppose I'll owe you," She said, somewhat sulkily.

Poe laughed, seemingly unable to help it.

"Favors from beyond the grave. My favorite,"

* * *

Rey could say one thing for certain, when Poe was tasked with something he worked unusually fast. Rey had a lot of questions for what was going on at the surface, and she would be presented with an opportunity to ask them later on in the week. The little elders had also agreed to listen to them try to argue Ben's freedom - but Poe had relayed to her that they had seemed very uninterested in it. Poe was only able to get an audience by exclaiming that whatever Ben was, he wasn't a Jedi.

That meant that Rey had a few days to try and figure out how she might convince these little aliens that Ben needed to go free, so that they could all find a way to get off of this rock together. She ignored the little voice at the back of her head that asked her if they really should let Ben off of this rock. She had no doubt that eventually he would find a way, even without her help, but she had stubbornly decided she wasn't going to leave him alone here.

The creatures began preparing for what looked to be a celebration of some sort, and they had all been invited (with the exception of Ben, for now). Rose busied herself with helping the set up, and Finn did his best to ignore Rey. They spoke to each other casually, and in a chilled fashion. Rey didn't like it, but she wasn't sure how to apologize to Finn for his apparent feelings of betrayal.

Rey had been forced to request a new set of clothes so that her old ones could be washed, and Poe had been insistent that she also pick out something to wear to this celebration. Rey wasn't typically the type to dress up, but she'd picked something that was formal enough to be passable. The whole crew had actually picked out something, and even Chewie had taken a bath in preparation for the evening.

The morning that they were meant to meet the elders, Poe woke her up by sticking his head into her little hovel with a steaming mug of coffee and a tough bit of bread that had a pat of butter on it. Rey was a little nervous, but she had planned to do what Ben had told her to do. For some reason, she trusted him - even though she could give herself a laundry list of reasons why not to. After he had killed Han, he had seemed vulnerable. Unsure, as if some sort of strange spell had been broken. Rey had to believe that he would do the right thing, even if they would part ways eventually.

She also knew that they likely needed as much help as they could get to get off of this rock.

When she walked into the chamber, there was a small table that housed a gaggle of hunched, sharp-toothed creatures that looked older than was even allowable. She had to wonder how old they were. Her eyes were drawn to Ben, who stood tall and lanky in the room - so tall that he had to duck before someone tugged him into a seated position. He looked tired, hungry, and perhaps a little bit dirty, but no worse for wear.

Poe came in next, his gaze sliding over to Ben with a sort of poison that Rey was surprised he could exhibit. She understood it, Ben tended to represent everything that the rebel alliance hated about the First Order. Even so, Poe seemed intent on helping her. She couldn't think about his motives, so she willingly accepted the help. BB-8 came rolling in behind him, obviously intent on helping translate the meeting so that the old fish didn't have to attempt to speak common all the way through.

Poe and the group spoke, though eventually the questioning turned to Rey.

"Why you say he no Jedi?"

"He has no Jedi training," She admitted, though perhaps it was a bit of a lie. "He's only a force sensitive, and he wasn't aware of it himself," That might have also been a lie.

Poe broke in.

"There's something going on on the surface, we believe we might be able to help you,"

There were a few murmurs of surprise as they spoke in hushed tones among themselves.

"Yes, but we need his help in order to be able to help you," Rey added on, pointing to Ben - who had yet to look at her.

"What is going on on surface is directly related to Jedi," One of them replied, quietly.

"He is no Jedi," Rey repeated, and finally he looked at her.

"Lights do not react to non-Jedi!" A slam was heard on the stony table.

"Listen," Rey finally said. "I'm not sure what's going on in this place, but I know that this man isn't a Jedi. The last of the Jedi died a few months ago. We can help you, just release him,"

The fact that the last of the Jedi had died some months ago came as a surprise to them, obviously.

"Luke Skywalker dead?"

Rey found herself shocked by the mention of his name. How could they know about Luke? Ben flinched as if he'd been slapped. It was hard to tell if the news came as good news to these creatures, or as bad news, but whatever the case was it seemed helpful to them. There were murmurs, again, and finally one of them spoke, though they chose not to speak again in common.

"They let him go," Poe finally leaned into her, whispering against her ear.

She hadn't even gotten a chance to try and persuade them with the force.

* * *

Ben had been released and he had experienced much of the same treatment that she had. They mended and washed his clothing, and when she found him in the room he'd been assigned some time later, he looked better - though the dark circles under his eyes signified that he hadn't been sleeping well. She had never seen him eat, but she could see from the remnants of the plate near the door that he had.

His belongings had been returned to him, and he was draped again in his cape. Rey had thought it was lost, but apparently the strange little creatures had found it in one piece. Poe had sent her with the job of giving him another change of clothes, which they had all deemed would remind them less of the order that he was currently apart of, at least for the time being. They were still black, but less like the robing of a military Knight of Ren.

She found him sitting on the cot, his boots slung aside and his feet bare. It was odd to see him in such a state, thinking that his clothing had always been the armor she'd seen him in. Shocking, even, to see any part of his skin bared. She set the second pair of clothing aside, coming to take one of the hard backed chairs that decked the place.

"Poe requested that you wear these," She said, unsure of how to start the conversation. It seemed a good a point as any.

He remained silent.

"They're having some sort of celebration," She finally said. "They want you to come. It will require another set of clothing...but you've been invited,"

Ben scoffed, his lips lifting into a smile.

"What?"

"They met Luke," He finally said, glancing up to her. The light in the cave caught his brown eyes, and they looked like sunlight through amber. She found it was strangely breathtaking. "What do you think he did?" He asked.

"Why are you so quick to think he did anything at all?"

"Luke was alive for years, Rey," He murmured. "I don't believe each thing he did was for the good of every one,"

"Maybe not," She said, drawing her legs up underneath her in a cross legged position. "But I'm unwilling to believe he's responsible for this until we have more information,"

"Can you ask the pilot if we can borrow the droid?"

"Why?"

"I believe they have a library, but we probably won't be able to understand much of it," He paused. "We need someone to translate. I'm sure that if that thing up above has been alive for as long as I think it has someone must have recorded something about it,"

"I'll ask," She said, after a pause. "He loves that droid, and he doesn't love you,"

Ben smiled. It was the first time she had ever seen him smile. She stood up after a few moments of staring at him, obviously intent on letting him get some rest. He looked exhausted, after all. When she moved towards the entrance of his room, he spoke again:

"Rey. Thank you,"

She paused briefly - but left him there on his own.

* * *

The next morning couldn't have been more awkward. Rey dressed and swept her hair back into a chignon type style, though some of the strands stubbornly remained loose. She headed out to the common area, where they had all been taking breakfast together. Rose and Finn sat close together, and both of them paused in their conversation once Rey appeared. Her garb was different, but she couldn't imagine she looked strange. It was deep blue in color, so blue it reminded her of the sky at night. The clothing wasn't completely formal, but it was certainly nicer than her rough-spun garments that she usually ran around in. It was, perhaps, a bit more feminine, though still practical.

Finn cleared his throat and went back to eating breakfast. Poe was nowhere around, which meant she'd have to put off asking him about BB-8. She sat down after having helped herself to breakfast, taking a few bites of it before she realized that Rose was staring at her.

"What?" She asked, arching her brow with curiosity.

"Y-you look nice," Rose finally said, smiling.

"Thanks," She responded, smiling at her. Finn looked irritated, so Rey refocused her attention on breakfast.

It was bound to happen, but eventually Ben came out of his hovel. He had put on the replacement clothes, which were fairly simple, but somehow reminiscent of what his father had once worn. There was even a vest, and though Rey had never thought they looked much alike, she found herself struck with how he looked like Han. Ben moved like a silent brute, but there was no way he was going to go unnoticed by Finn, or Rose. Both of them looked at him, in horror and also anger. Finn looked as if he was about to get up, but Rose held on tightly to his arm. They all ate in awkward silence, and eventually Finn stood up and walked off. Rose sat with them both, deciding it was probably better to let him be on his own.

"You must be...Ben," She murmured, giving him a friendly nod of her head. "I'm Rose,"

Ben just glowered at her, and Rey sighed a bit, glancing at Rose.

"He knows how to talk, he just chooses not to," She took another bite of her breakfast, though she was finished after that - having lost her appetite.

"Yes," was all he said, shooting Rey a look.

"Well, it's nice to meet you,"

Rey had to appreciate her effort, considering she was somewhat new to the group, she had to have heard every thing that was said about him. Stories circulated freely, despite the fact that the entire group of them had rather better things to do than gossip, it didn't stop the gossip. She didn't doubt Finn had already relayed to her a good deal of his activities, but she couldn't blame Finn. Rey sometimes wasn't even sure why she defended him.

Ben remained silent, finishing his breakfast with a brief efficiency, likely from his time with the order. Rey didn't finish all of hers, though they both stood at about the same time to rinse and dispose of cutlery. She glanced at him, and he glanced at her, and Rose stood up to rinse her own plate before she murmured her goodbyes and wandered off in the other direction. Ben made people uncomfortable, and she was loathe to admit that she was glad he was there.

"I can see your friends have taken an instant liking to me," He said.

"Yes," Rey responded with a sort of a smile.

They stood next to each other in silence, before Ben spoke again.

"Have you found out anything about where the library might be?"

"Yes," She pulled a small piece of paper dotted with ink from the pocket of her jacket, which was long and swooped around her pleasantly. She handed it to him. "Poe scribbled it out, it's just an idea since he hasn't actually found it yet, but that was what he was able to gather by asking the locals,"

Ben took the piece of paper, examining it for a few moments.

"Lets go,"

"What about the droid?" Rey asked, watching him curiously as he took her hand in his own, apparently about to lead her off. She remembered the last time someone had held her hand it had been Finn. This felt different.

"We can at least have a look," He said simply.

She slipped her hand out of his, perhaps out of habit, and perhaps out of concern. It felt wrong to hold his hand, in some way. His own fell to his side, and she frowned, looking away from him. They stood in that remarkable silence for awhile before she agreed by giving a nod of her head.

The trek to the library ended up being a long one, and they walked along in silence. It was reminiscent of the first few days that they had spent on the planet together, but there wasn't anything that felt uncomfortable about it. Eventually, after getting turned around a few times, they found an old room that was marked by lettering they didn't understand. Both of them felt the need to open the door, and when they did, they found a room full of messy papers and what could barely be described as books housed beyond. Some of them were only tied together with a sparse piece of string that the ages had eaten away at, and some of them weren't bound at all, any draft kicking them up and out of order.

"I can see this is where all of their funding goes," She teased, taking a step and bending over to try and gather a bunch of pages that had been knocked to the ground.

Ben stepped around her, but remained silent, beginning to peruse what these creatures called a library. There was no sense of order, no librarian, and Rey doubted that they would be able to get through of it in a short period of time. She set the pages aside, though she believed that by the time they visited a second time they would likely be all over the floor again.

After a few hours of wandering, it became clear that there would be no smoking gun that day. Rey could only focus on pictures, since most of it was written in a language she had never seen - and because she'd never actually seen the creature above, it was difficult to even tell that what she was looking at was right. She gave a sigh of frustration just as Ben made himself visible again. The look on his face indicated he had had no more luck than she had. She gathered up the document she was looking at and set it aside. Her stomach growled idly, and Ben retrieved the pack he'd brought with him, swinging it down in front of her.

She glanced up at him, watching as he bent his limbs and sat down in front of her. She wondered how awkward he had been as a boy, considering how gangling he was even now. He unzipped the pack and she caught a glimpse of that silver that she'd seen before. Her curiosity almost got the best of her and she almost reached out to grasp it in an attempt to see what it was.

The moment was lost as he began pulling out food that he'd nabbed, who knew from where, but she had to applaud his forethought. She hadn't thought they would be there for as long as they had, and her stomach growling had been a reminder that it was likely about dinner time back in the center of the underground system.

"Shouldn't we go back?" She asked, grabbing a piece of odd looking fruit and trying it.

"I think we should stay here for the night," He finally said.

"Why?" Rey asked, incredulously. Had it been his plan all along?

"I'm not sure," He admitted. "The caves get even darker at night, and considering that we have enough supplies to last us until the morning... I believe it might be a good idea to wait until morning,"

"I think we should go back. Surely they'll miss me,"

He didn't have it in him to look hurt, but she could tell by the subtle shifting of his features that she'd struck a cord of some kind.

"Fine," He murmured simply. "Lets eat first, though,"

"Fine," She agreed. She wondered how much of it was him wanting to avoid any further confrontation with her friends, and how much of it was concern that it was dark.

"Ben," She said, after a moment of silence. "How come you kissed me?" She finally asked, feeling a breath of relief after asking him what she'd been wanting to ask him.

She couldn't believe it, but his cheeks lit up with a color she was sure was akin to pink. He obviously hadn't been expecting her to ask.

He stood up, rather abruptly, after having finished chewing on whatever it was he was chewing on. Rey watched him with curious eyes, but he only began packing up what he'd drawn out. He swung the pack over his shoulder, causing Rey's eyes to narrow in some confusion.

"We should go,"

* * *

By the time they returned, it looked as if everyone had gone to bed. The fire was fading, and all that was left behind was a dull glow of hot coals. Rey glanced around to find that not even Poe remained, Poe who had sometimes been her nocturnal companion. She supposed that even he needed to sleep sometimes. Ben glanced around in a cursory fashion, though she always got the feeling he was doing so merely to scope out his surroundings.

"Well, goodnight," She murmured, giving him a brief glance before he spoke.

"Rey," He said, his dulcet tones soft and quiet.

"What?"

"I kissed you because I wanted to," He admitted. She was shocked, and it must have made itself apparent on her face, because he kept going. "I have wanted to, ever since Snoke..." He paused. He didn't need to explain it, she already knew. "Ever since you told me I wasn't alone,"

She found herself without words to reply, but it soon became obvious that it wasn't going to be necessary. He reached up, broad hand tucking a bit of hair behind her exposed ear. His hands were a bit chilled, but warmed the longer the contact went on. A tilt of his head and a short dip and he was kissing her again. This one was different, it started out in a sparse manner, their lips simply touching.

He tested the territory, as he often did when he entered a room, and she found herself drawn up against him in a way that caused heat to rise to her cheeks. The kiss became a bit more frantic, and though he had recently shaved she could feel the beginnings of stubble on his face. She had been so caught up in the moment that she hadn't even realized that someone had been watching them - not until the third party cleared their throat.

They jumped apart like shrapnel, and Rey lifted her hand to cover her mouth, her chest rising and falling rapidly and her heart beat thudding in an uncomfortably precise fashion. She glanced in the direction of the noise and found it was Finn who was standing there.

Finn.

(woooo! do you guys think i should put smut in this? message me)


	5. Balance

It was not the first time that Finn had snuck up on her, but she could tell in his eyes that he felt utterly betrayed. She couldn't blame him, considering that he had just walked in on her kissing the one man she swore she would never kiss. A million sort of excuses bubbled up in her throat, but all she could manage was to swallow the words back down and look at her friend, who was now looking at her as if she'd sprouted another head. Perhaps she had. In his eyes, she could see that this would equate to something that insane.

"Are you insane?" He finally broke the silence, spitting out the words as if they were venom.

"Finn," Rey said, though she was unsure of what to say to defend herself or their actions.

"You must be," He said shortly. "Have you forgotten everything he's done?"

"Finn, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"For me to what? Find you with him? You're my friend, Rey," He said, his voice full of sadness. "But I can't deal with you being involved with that murderer," Finn spoke as if he wasn't even standing there. Rey could see in the hang dog nature of Ben's face that the hit had landed somewhere, even if he didn't react the way other people might have.

Rey found herself at a loss for words, unable to come up with any reply that might soothe the situation. She had known that Finn would find this impossible, but she hadn't been thinking of what might happen in the long run. She only knew that she and Ben seemed to be drawn to one another, inexplicably. Ben remained stoic, and Finn was in the process of staring him down, as if doing so would just make him disappear. Maybe Ben knew it, and he brushed her hand with his own. She felt a sort of soothing balm take her over, one of the unfair tricks of a force user. He moved past Finn before disappearing into the dark.

She was somewhat thankful that he hadn't stayed around to fight it out with Finn. She knew how abrupt he could be, and it likely wouldn't have made the situation any better. Rey had to square with the fact that he was a part of the First Order, even if he was the only other force user she'd ever met in her life (and was still alive), and even if his presence made her feel just a bit less lonely.

Finn and Rey stood there in silence. She knew he wanted her to say something, but he couldn't find the words to even try to explain. The anger in his face and the hopelessness in his eyes had her shutting her mouth each time, swallowing back whatever it was that had been coming up. She felt as if someone had punched her, very hard, in her stomach. Finn didn't say anything else, and after a few very long moments of silence, the anger seemed to drain out of him. Rey stepped forward and gave him a slow pat on his arm before they both embraced in a hug.

Finn was still confused, and hurt - she could feel it radiating off of him just as surely as she felt Ben's presence gathering distance. They were both, perhaps, confused. A lot had happened in the recent months, and now they were both stuck on this planet without much of a plan to get off of it. The fact that Ben was there just complicated matters even further. She did want to ask him how he had truly come to be there, but she would save it for another time.

"You'll always be my first friend," He murmured as he pulled back, wiping his leaking eyes.

"And you'll always be mine," She murmured, feeling the need to wipe at her own tears, too.

Then, they both laughed. It felt better to laugh, and cry, and even though she knew that it hadn't solved anything - she hoped that Finn would remember it each time he remembered Ben was stuck here too...and that she'd kissed him now, twice.

* * *

The next day felt better. They hadn't spoken about it, really, but it felt as if a deal had been struck between all of them. At least it had for the time being. Ben's presence was tolerated that morning at breakfast, and even Poe found it in him to be polite. Rose was always polite, and Rey had to silently thank her each time she tried (and failed) to make conversation with him. They sat across from one another and barely exchanged words, though occasionally she'd look up to find him looking at her. She could feel the penetrating needle of his gaze, though this time it wasn't painful. No, it was something else entirely.

Rey had spoken to Poe about borrowing BB-8, and even though Poe had seemed wary, he'd allowed it. Chewie had been excited to see Ben, and it had been interesting to watch the large beast try and pick him up as if he were no more than a boy. Rey thought it strange, considering that Chewie had seen what he'd done to Han. Perhaps Chewie missed him enough to forget it, or at least see that small bit of his father in him. It was as if they were all living in an alternate universe for the time being. Rey knew that once they found a way off of this planet, there was a silent understanding that things between all of them would go back as they were.

When Ben finally fended off Chewie, they made their way back to the library with the droid rolling behind them. They kept silent, and BB-8, ever the droid, occasionally gave a few chirps to try and lift the awkward silence. Rey responded as she could, though her eyes were on the outline of Ben's back, which (as always) was tense. His silence wasn't unusual, but she felt that he was holding something back in an attempt to keep her from feeling what he might be feeling.

Rey stepped up, having to quicken her pace and widen her stride to catch up with him. It felt irresponsible to apologize to him for what Finn had said, because it was true. Likely Ben wrestled with the fact of it every day, since to Rey it was obvious he hadn't fully given himself over to the dark. When she looked at Ben, she saw vulnerability. He was someone who was looking for an answer in a world with no simple answers. She hated to think of what might become of him once he thought he found what he was looking for.

She touched his arm, a ghost of touch, surprised always to find the warmth of a human beneath her fingertips. She let the touch linger, until Ben looked at her. Whatever passed between them passed silently, leaving the droid expelling a confused beep of inquiry. Ben's face softened, and he looked less like gloomy Kylo Ren and more like Ben Solo. She had felt it best to use the force instead of words, and it seemed to work for the moment.

The beep from the droid, which came louder this time, drew their attention back to it. They had reached the library, and let BB-8 roll on forward into the area. He wasn't typically a droid to use for translating, but they figured they might have more luck with him on the journey versus not.

* * *

The second trip to the library was more fruitful, though just as frustrating. BB-8 didn't recognize the text, not really, though they had found a couple of illustrations that might have been reminiscent of that thing up above. It had been the drawings of the zombie like humans that had tipped them off, perhaps this was what they were dealing with. However, they didn't know the language, and could not make heads or tails of it. Ben seemed especially frustrated with this notion, considering he was probably the most uncomfortable having his powers stripped away by a sentient, force draining beast.

When the natural bent of the light told them that night was falling, BB-8 moved out in front of them before completely disappearing. Rey wondered where the droid had gone off to, but she realized some time after that they had lost him. He was probably back with Poe by then, having rolled through the cavernous dark to get back to him. Rey stayed close to Ben, who remained rather silent through the whole excursion.

She was thankful, somehow, when the droid disappeared into the dark. She felt at ease with Ben, in a way that almost caused her shame. When they began walking in silence, together, it felt as if she was a child and they were simply best friends who were comfortable with each other's presence. After a few long moments, Ben reached out and wrapped his hand around hers, and they walked hand in hand.

They had completely lost track of BB-8 by the time they realized they should have been back to the central grouping by then. It was then that they realized they might be lost, though how it had happened was a bit of a mystery to them. They knew the way, but it became obvious that the way was being held from them. Rey realized it felt reminiscent of Snoke's meddling, though they were both here, together. She did not think she was dreaming him this time around.

Ben dropped her hand and turned to look at her. He had started the day in plain clothes, and it always struck her how different he looked when he wasn't dressed in black with a sweeping cape gathering up dust behind him. He had washed, and shaved his face, and he looked again like the boyish man she had seen more of in these past few days. His turbulence seemed to lessen the farther away they got from the First Order. She had to imagine that Snoke's death had something to do with this, as well. She had heard him when he spoke to Ren, and had realized that it was likely something the man had grown used to...the verbal abuse.

He drew nearer to her. Neither of them seemed concerned about the strange tilt of the cave, or why they were lost. Rey felt herself drawn forward, and she felt a strange tingling at the base of her spine. It wasn't Ben, slipping his way into her mind - she knew the feeling too well. It was something else, though they both seemed propelled by it, whatever it was. Rey felt the roughness of his palm sliding along the column of her neck, and despite her brain telling her that this was a very bad idea, she couldn't stop herself from leaning into his hand. The warmth of his skin brushed down to her shoulder before sliding down the curve of her bicep, and her eyes closed as she let her head roll to the side just a bit.

He pulled, and she pushed, pressing the flat of her hands against his broad chest. He stopped in the process of lowering his head towards hers, opening his eyes. She was struck always at how they looked like gold in certain lights.

"We shouldn't," She said simply, her voice a bit husky. She was afraid it betrayed her.

"I'm sorry," He murmured, his nose brushing hers before he pulled back.

She felt her fingers curling in the shirt he wore, preventing him from pulling away. They crashed into each other with fury, and a breathless fumble ensued. It was almost as if they were in a hurry, a hurry to see how far they might push it before they were interrupted again. She felt the thrill of his hands brushing over her, gripping flesh - and she suddenly felt sensitive to the cloth that brushed against her skin. It was almost overwhelming, the need to get it off of her skin. Or his skin? She could no longer tell.

She pushed back the shirt he was wearing, feeling the skin beneath as warm. It was somehow alien, and raw. Rey found herself wanting to continue on with the sensation, her hands drifting over the valleys of his shoulders, tracing the curve of his biceps. He pushed against her, lifting her with ease and she felt her thighs wrap around his middle. She wanted him there, and she flexed her muscles just to keep him there, even as he was lifting her against cold stone. It was a position she'd almost found herself in before. She pulled back, catching her breath as her fingers worked along the plain shirt he wore, undoing the buttons one by one and pushing it completely away from him. She felt the ridges of his scars, thinking that there were a good deal more of them than she might have known.

Her fingertips traced them, feeling the warmth of his skin and the ridges of his scars as she tried to map out each one. He was so young - so young to have so many scars. She felt him return the gesture, feeling the fabric of her clothing gap and fall away from her form. His hands felt as if they were everywhere, brushing against her sensitive skin - causing her to gasp aloud as she pushed back against him. Her hands felt dangerous as they moved along the ridges and planes of his body. They moved in a southerly direction, fumbling with the fastenings on his pants before feeling triumphant when she undid them.

She felt the stiffness of him, and he pushed back against her, settling betwixt her thighs as if he was meant to be there. She felt the need to grasp, pulling him closer. They continued to fumble breathlessly, undoing clothing and pulling it away in frustration if necessary. Therefore, when they heard BB-8's inquisitive and loud chirp, it was as if a cold bucket of water had been tossed on them both. Rey gasped, and Ben groaned, both likely stemming from the utter frustration of the situation. Of course, Rey thought, they would be interrupted. She suddenly felt thankful that they had been, considering what she had been about to do with him. Her thoughts raced, and she dropped her legs, trying to find the ground beneath her as he pulled away. She watched him readjust his clothing, and she did the same.

* * *

BB-8 found them, and gave another inquisitive chirp. Thankfully, they had both been able to get themselves back in order, standing a good distance off from one another until the little droid rolled into view. Rey often wondered how human his senses were, because the chirps he gave indicated that he didn't quite believe the story she gave him. The droid lead them out of darkness, back into a populated area, where they split off from one another. Rey felt like she could breathe again, for a moment, but then she was drawn into a whirl of activity as Rose recruited her to help with the celebration that the strange creatures were having. Rey was thankful for the distraction, but the day passed slowly, and thoughts of Ben crept up on her when she didn't want them to. The celebration was to be that night, and they were expected to dress up, even though it seemed as if it might be bongos around bonfires.

She and Rose found distraction from worries when they were picking out clothing. Rey found herself mostly uninterested in it, but once she let go of her thoughts of anything else, they were able to have fun. Rose picked something, and Rey picked something, and by the time it rolled around for both of them to get ready, they split off.

Rey let her hair down and brushed it out, before twisting it up into a braided chignon that allowed some curly tendrils to hang pleasantly around her features. She thought of Leia when she looked at herself in the mirror, taking a moment to dot a small bit of color on her lips, pursing them together. Rey had chosen something that wasn't excessively feminine, though it was a long, wine colored dress. She shrugged into the high necked jacket, pulling it around her before giving one more passing glance to herself in the mirror.

Rey was surprised by the opulence of the celebration. It was as if a thousand mermaids had decorated the place, with glittering pastels and variations of aqua. There were sparkling lights, and bits of glass which had been strung out along the walls of the area where they had been keeping their campfire previously. It seemed to be sort of a general gathering area, but all evidence of their campfire had been wiped clean. It didn't matter, the solemn yellow glow provided plenty of light. It made Rey wonder what powered the lights, though when she drew closer to examine them she found it was likely another strange, luminescent creature that they had taken from some body of water.

"Apparently our friends are ditching this little event," Rose smiled, keeping close to her. "You look beautiful,"

"So do you," Rey said. "What are we supposed to be doing here? Do we even know what this celebration is for?"

"From what I could gather, it's the only night that the people above sleep,"

"You mean the people who make the strange noises?"

"Yep, those are the ones," She paused, releasing Rey's arm for just a moment to pick up some sort of strange drink that had been presented to them. "It's like a holiday. It happens once a month,"

Rey dipped her brow in curiosity. It was something they might be able to use. It was something they might at least ask about, when the time came.

"Did Finn say he would come?" She asked, curiously.

"He was a little vague," Rose said, a frown gracing her features.

"Well, do you want to dance?"

"I would love to,"

* * *

It seemed that being late was a virtue. After Rey and Rose had danced two dances together, Rey caught sight of Finn stalking in. He glanced at them both, moodily, before moving over to the refreshments table. Poe came shortly thereafter, looking handsome in his mandarin collar - with his dark hair perfectly curled at his brow. They seemed angry, frustrated with one another, and Rose obviously sensed it too. She wouldn't get a chance to ask, as the woman broke off from her after the second dance, making her apologies and moving towards Finn, who had taken up residence somewhere near the bar...or what Rey might consider a bar. The strange glowing quality of the drinks matched the light sources, and she found herself uninterested in consuming any of it.

She was alone.

She felt overdressed and a bit ridiculous, and her eyes scanned the crowd for Poe. She was avoiding thinking of Ben - obviously he wouldn't show up here - and she wondered if Poe might provide her with some company. She could at least ask him what was going on with Finn. However, each time she looked for him she could find no sign of him. He had been there, she was sure, but he was gone now. It seemed as if all of her friends had a hard time staying in one place these days.

Her eyes moved over the crowd once again before making the decision that maybe, it was better if she went back into her small room and got some sleep. She was suddenly feeling very tired. She paused when she saw Ben standing tall, sticking out despite his obvious attempts not to. He was dressed finely, with a black shirt that latched down the front and a vest that was buttoned over it. Rey tilted her head, thinking he looked a bit like his father. His inky hair was finely waved, swept away from his brow, gleaming like a bird feather. The look on his face went from lost to hopeful as they spotted each other. He took her in as she took him in, both of them seeming impressed by how well the other cleaned up.

Finn and Rose watched them as they drew to one another like magnets. Finn ordered another drink, and Rose continued to watch the crowd. Rey found herself moving slowly, though eventually they came to stand in front of one another somewhat awkwardly. It was almost as if they'd gone to some awkward school dance together, causing Rey to pause and wonder if Luke had thrown awkward school dances at the Jedi academy. It seemed unlikely. It took Ben a few moments to speak, his clipped tones downplaying the kindness of his next statement.

"You look nice,"

"So do you," She found no urge to call him monster, and in fact he looked less peaked than she thought she had ever seen him. If the dark side was an illness, Kylo Ren seemed to be proof of it.

"Should we dance," He said, less a question than a statement. "I feel like everyone is looking at us,"

She nodded, allowing him to take her hand and lead her into the crowd where others were dancing. Mostly, the music had been somewhat tribal, full of punctuated beats, but it had slowed some since the time had passed. Perhaps the musicians were getting sleepy, and a few them seemed to be drunk. It was a simple dance, but they circled around each other effortlessly. He seemed to be putting effort into not holding her too close, and there was a brusque quality to his movements. She was surprised at how skilled he was at it, wondering when in his career as a general destroyer of worlds he had had time to learn how to dance. She supposed he was the son of an Organa, after all.

He kept his eyes on her, that intense blend of hopefulness and hopelessness, a quality she thought she had only ever found in him. She found the directness of his gaze so overwhelming that she finally had to look down, moving closer so that she could focus her attention on the room spinning around them. Finn and Rose had disappeared, causing a frown to crease her features. Ben caused her to move without thought, and for a brief moment she was regretting her decision to agree to dance with him. He seemed to sense it, and his shoulders stiffened.

When the tune finished, he released her, stepping back in an abrupt fashion and stalking from the floor. She was surprised, and she turned to watch him. She must have looked stunned, because the sudden cease of movement drew a few looks. She followed him, suddenly realizing that there were things they hadn't been talking about that she felt needed to be addressed. It wasn't hard to follow him, especially when he made no effort to shut off the chaos of his thoughts from her. Confusion, yearning, and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on.

She found him down in the bowels of the place where the hot springs were, small pockets of crystal clear water lit up by that same strange light that seemed everywhere in this place. He was leaned down, having moved down the man-made stairs that dipped into the water just before he got his boots wet. He had taken his gloves off and he was picking at something he held in his fingers. A blade of grass from a plant, from the looks of it. She was surprised to find him alone, as usually the baths were a hot bed of activity for all of the residents of the cave.

He knew she was there, but he didn't turn around to greet her.

"Why did you leave?" Her voice sounded less angry than she had hoped for.

He took a few long moments to respond.

"What are we doing?" He finally asked. "I offered my hand to you," He tossed the plant matter into the water, watching it float with the small motions of the water. "You denied it,"

"What you were offering is madness," She flinched at the hurt in his voice, and the hurt in hers. "There would never be any peace,"

"Peace?" He gave a deadpan chuckle. "You think you'll find peace with the light side?"

"I think I have a better shot," She said, her tone picking up in velocity. "Look at you, each time I've seen you you've looked ill, and lost. Now you look like Ben Solo,"

"You cannot have convinced yourself that the light path is the only path to take," He finally said.

"I won't do what you see fit to do. I won't,"

"Haven't you wondered what the Jedi did to wake this creature up?" He paused, turning so that she could see his prominent profile. "Haven't you wondered what sort of messes they've left across the galaxy in their obsessive pursuit of the light?"

Rey found herself becoming defensive, but said nothing.

"Admit it," He finally murmured. "We're more alike than you would have thought to yourself or admitted to your friends. There is only loneliness, and if Luke wasn't a good indication that there is no true balance with the light, then you truly are blind," He finally turned to look at her. "No balance then, for either of us,"

A tear found its way down her cheek, and she caught her bottom lip with her teeth. Her fists clenched at her sides, but she let out a shaky breath before she decided to respond.

"There was a time when I might have said we were nothing alike," She opened her eyes. "I'm not so foolish to think so now. On that same coin, you can't believe that there's any balance in continuing on how you were before,"

He smiled, and this time it felt more genuine, but it didn't last.

He made a slow, lanky movement up from his position on the stairs until he stood facing her, and she was at his height for once. It was strange to look at him this way. He reached up, using the pad of his thumb to brush away the few errant tears that had slid down her cheek. Despite a furious desire not to, she leaned into his touch again. It sent a sort of soothing shockwave through her. She wanted him not to have this effect on her. She wanted that they should not have this effect on each other.

"I don't know what I believe," He admitted. "But the thought of being separated from you again is almost unbearable,"

She gave a quiet sort of sob, and the tears started flowing a bit more freely. It was painful to admit, but she had been feeling much the same - trying only to stay in the moment until this anomaly came to its only conclusion. She would go back to her world, and he would go back to his. At this moment it seemed almost impossible to bridge the gap. Was this what it was like? Each of them had things they weren't willing to give up, and now it became obvious that they might continue on the same paths they had chosen. There may not have been any deviation for either of them.

She reached up, wrapping her hands around his wrist, before speaking again.

"I meant what I said," She finally choked out. "You're not alone,"

"Neither are you," He leaned up, brushing his lips against her forehead in a comforting gesture.

It seemed the best that either of them could do at that moment.

(WEEE! please share and review if you like this! it really helps me to keep going!)


	6. Alliances

They stood there like that, in stasis, for a few moments. She could feel the small puffs of his breath usurping strands of her hair, causing a tickle along her forehead. She leaned into his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heart. He was flesh and blood, despite her unwillingness to admit it. Her fingertips dug their way into the lapels of his clothing before she forced herself to pull away from him. He stood solid, having only lifted his hand to rest at the back of her head. His fingertips brushing at the nape of her neck sent a pleasant jolt down her spine, but even that concerned her. She stepped back from him, her gaze dropping to the floor. She wiped her face and sucked in a deep breath of air.

The walk back was a silent one.

They split off from one another when the time came, and Rey felt as if she was being strangled but could breathe again all at the same time. She laughed to herself, thinking of balance. She undressed slowly and was happy to find herself in bed. When her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep.

Her dreams, however, were not so silent.

She dreamed of him, in snow, as she had so many times before. His tall frame lumbering in a jagged manner, the blood spilling from the injury Chewbacca had inflicted on him. She recalled the rage she felt after Han's death, and how it gave her the ability to reach out into the well of the force and defeat him. There was always the blue and red light behind her eyelids, as if someone was shining them directly into her face. This time, though, the dream ended with Ben dying.

She woke up in a cold sweat, a small cry escaping her.

* * *

Rose was sitting near the fire early that morning, and Rey was glad to see her there. She felt like she needed a distraction, though she knew the conversation about how all of them were going to get out of there was oncoming. Rose smiled weakly at her and poked the fire with a stick, shifting in her chair to get her feet a little closer to the warmth.

"It's so cold down here," She said.

"Yes, it is," Rey's eyes landed on the fire.

"Want some breakfast?"

"I'll do it, you look comfortable," She paused. "Besides, it will give me something else to think about,"

Rose gave her a smile, and what felt like a knowing look, but she stayed put - drawing her blankets more tightly around herself. Rey had gotten used to cooking for herself on Jakku, but it was usually as simple as dumping water onto powder. The stash they'd accumulated over the past few days held a bevy of items she didn't recognize, but knew they had eaten before, safely. She decided to play it safe, cutting up some of the fruit and bread to make a sort of plate that they could both pick from. Down here there was coffee, though it came from a strange bean that gave it a sort of blueish hue. By the time she had gotten close to finishing, Poe showed up.

"Coffee, thank you," She handed it over to him, noting the dark circles under his eyes.

"Didn't sleep well?"

"I don't think any of us did," He admitted, taking a sip. It seemed to renew him. "Can I help?"

"Sure,"

They worked in silence, though Poe seemed to have a good deal more skill with cooking than she did. He taught her how to make a few simple things, and by the time they were finished the night had fully passed and life was returning to the underground structures. It was slow going, though, and Rey wondered what their word for 'hungover' was. They returned to the camp fire, which was dying down, to find Finn sitting there. He looked less intense than he had in days, and Rey handed him a cup of coffee before they began doling out food. She tried not to look for him, tried not to think about him.

He made himself apparent, soon enough.

They sat around the fire in silence, distracting themselves with eating and avoiding each other's glances before Poe spoke. Rey was glad for it, she thought she was going to have to be the one to bring it up. She hoped for some catharsis, at least. She realized they couldn't stay here forever, and maybe she would feel better if they had a plan.

"We have to figure out how to get out of here," Poe said.

"Last night Rose mentioned that they celebrate the beast not coming out once a month," Rey replied. "It might be our best chance,"

"Did you actually see it?" Rose asked.

Rey shook her head, glancing sideways at Ben, who remained stoic.

"We heard it, though. And we saw the people,"

"We did too," Finn finally said. "It seems like they're eating those vines,"

"I noticed the plants, too. It's almost like they're strangling the planet,"

Ben pulled out a folded piece of paper from somewhere on his person. He'd donned his First Order garb, but he'd left his cape behind. He handed the illustration to Poe.

"We found that in the library yesterday," He said, his deep tones almost surprising to all of them. "Do you think you might get one of them to try and translate it for us?" Poe seemed to have a knack with these creatures, after all.

After staring at Ben for a few moments, he reached out and took the drawing. It felt like the motion took forever, and Rey almost let out a breath of air once it happened.

"Why bother? Why not just slash the thing to pieces with that stupid lightsaber of yours?" Finn looked at Ben.

Rey supposed she let out a sigh of relief too soon. An uncomfortable silence pursued, though everyone noticed when Ben and Rey gave each other stilted glances.

"What?" Finn spat out.

"We can try," Rey said simply. "But whatever it is that's up there seems to be like a force vacuum," She glanced at Ben again, expecting he'd pick up the slack.

"Neither of us can use our abilities," He finished.

"Oh, well that's just wonderful," Finn tossed something into the fire. "Here I was, thinking how easy it'd be, you being the most powerful child to ever throw a temper tantrum in the galaxy,"

Rose reached out and grasped his arm in a comforting fashion.

"Fighting isn't going to help us get out of here," Rey said, glancing at the two of them.

"Why should we help him leave this planet? As far as I'm considered, he's only good for one thing, and he doesn't even have that,"

Ben glanced down at the fire, obviously fighting the urge to respond in kind.

"Has anyone even asked him what he's doing here?" Finn continued on his tirade. It seemed like he was trying to get a reaction.

"I followed a distress signal,"

"What?" Rey glanced at him.

"It was from you," He glanced back at her, but it didn't last for too long.

"I don't remember sending you a distress signal,"

"I'm not surprised," He finally said, glancing back to Finn. "It felt as if you were dreaming,"

She shouldn't have been surprised. So the connection Snoke had forced between them persisted. Did that mean he was still alive? Rey shook off the thought, finding it crawling down her leg like a slithering slug.

"You guys can continue talking about this spooky force crap all you like," Finn scoffed. "What I want to know is, why help him?" He spat the last word out like a curse.

"Finn," Rose finally said. "We're no better than he is if we leave him here to fend for himself. Or worse,"

"Besides," Poe finally chimed in. "He might come in handy,"

The fact that they lacked in the force didn't mean that either of them were completely stripped of their abilities, after all. They were all then looking at Ben, who was obviously expected to say something. She expected him to burst out in rage, or arrogance, or cut them all down - and was surprised when he didn't. He gripped his mouth shut tight, and she could see in the way he held his jaw that he was biting his tongue.

"Thank you," He finally choked out.

"Well, that settles that then," Poe said, taking another drink of his now cold coffee. He pulled a face and tossed the remainder aside. He folded the piece of paper up and stuck it in his jacket pocket. "I'll see what I can find out about this. Rose, I know that they keep a small sort of armory. It's mostly busted up old blasters that they probably poached from the settlement up top, but can you see if you can do something with them?"

Rose nodded her head.

"Ben, Rey," He glanced at him then. "If I give you instructions, do you think you can find the Falcon?"

They both nodded their heads in reply. "Good, I think you two might be able to get inside and find Rey's lightsaber, and see if you can send out a distress call to the alliance, just in case we can't get the ships working again. Rey, you'll go with him?"

Rey didn't like the idea of going back above, but maybe these little creatures might help them fend off whatever it was that was up there a bit easier. With supplies, and a plan, it might not be so harrowing. She nodded her head, as it was obvious she didn't intend to let him go alone.

"Finn," Poe glanced at him, then. "You can spend the day helping them gather up supplies, and then you can help Rose with whatever she might need," Poe knew Finn had a good deal of experience with technical aspects. "You two should head back up within the next few days. A month seems like a long time, but we should try and figure out if we can get rid of whatever is causing those people to go plant junkie. We'll meet back here, tonight,"

"I'll see if I can fix up something that can help us stay in contact," Rose said, nodding her head resolutely before lifting herself out of the chair.

Ben and Poe broke off next, and Poe found a piece of paper and a writing utensil to try and scribble out land marks that he remembered from their trek from the crash site there. Finn looked at Rey, and she looked back at him. It seemed like there was more he wanted to say, but they just sat there in silence before he stood up to follow Rose. He'd been outvoted, but Rey wasn't convinced that he was in agreement with any of this. Rey sat there by herself for a few moments, finishing her breakfast. Poe had drawn the map, but was off to see what he could find out. Ben was standing still by the fire, his eyes still on Rey before he took a seat beside her. He hadn't touched his breakfast, and after staring at it coolly for a few moments, he ate a few pieces of food.

"We should go," He said, after he'd finished. He stood up, and Rey followed suit. She knew they both looked tired. They were off to gather what they could to take with them up above.

She wondered if he'd had the same dream.

* * *

Poe had given them money. Rey wasn't sure how he'd gotten it, and she wasn't sure she wanted to ask, but she was thankful that they wouldn't have to rely on old scraps for supplies, at least not completely. They seemed to be non-violent race, so when she and Ben found their way back to the market that she and Rose had perused a few days earlier, they found themselves disappointed by the lack of weapons. Rey found a small bladed knife which looked like it was from another planet. It likely had been traded here for something else. It wasn't a lightsaber, but it would do. She was sure she could unglue the blade from the hilt and fix it to the staff she'd carried down here with her, though it was more of a rather large stick than a staff.

Ben found packs that could carry supplies. There was a good deal more than Rey remembered their being, thinking that these creatures probably took the opportunity to go above for a day and see what they could scavenge. Some of it made her uneasy, especially the items that were obviously personal and had likely belonged to someone now dead.

Now dead, or worse.

They gathered what they could - canteens to carry non-poisoned water, food items that would keep, blankets that were deceptively warm that could be rolled into very small balls. Ben bought an old lighter, which had an old empire insignia on it. Mostly because it would help making fires easier, but Rey thought it was because it was a relic from his past. His families' past, anyway. Rey had only heard stories about Darth Vader. Ben had never known him, so it seemed uncouth to ask. He had given up the old cape, however, and Rey had noticed a distinct lack of helmet.

They got separated once or twice, but it wasn't hard to find Ben in this crowd. He stood about three heads taller than most of them. When the day wound down and they'd spent most of it in silence picking up items they thought would be useful, he found her again. He had something grasped in the palm of his hand, and on the trek back to the central area where they'd all been living, he held his hand out and told her to hold out hers.

Into it he dropped a small brass colored chain, delicate in construction. At the middle of the necklace was a small, glittering amber stone. It was dark, but when the light hit it, it resembled his eyes. She wondered how Poe would feel about this purchase, but Ben looked at her. He didn't have to know. Rey reached out and he helped her put it around her neck, his fingertips brushing idly against her skin for a moment that seemed too short.

Anyone else might have tried to explain this gift to her, but Rey didn't need it explained. Ben didn't try. It passed between them unwillingly anyway, a sort of pact. (Even if you come to hate me, even if we never see each other one again, I would ask you to remember me as I am now. Even if we're galaxies apart, please don't forget me.) Rey felt naked, considering she hadn't gotten anything for him. She blushed, surprised at her capability to do so. She was thankful when he turned away silently, pacing out a distance ahead of her.

She followed in silence.

* * *

They all gathered around the fire that night in much the same way they did that morning. None of them seemed very interested in eating, but when they all worked together to make food and get everyone fed, it seemed to bleed some of the tension from the situation. When they all sat down to eat, they did so in silence, until the ice melted a bit. Rey and Ben sat across from each other - the fire between them to keep the distance. He sat in the dirt with his long legs crossed, and it made him seem less imposing.

Poe spoke first.

"So?"

"We picked up enough to last us a few days above ground," Rey said in reply, glancing at Rose.

"Well, the stuff they have is old," She said, a small frown gracing her face. "But I think we can make some of it work," She pushed some food around on her plate. "But it might take a few days,"

Finn kept his focus on the plate.

"Well, the people around here are a little shy about talking about this drawing," He said simply. "But I got a few sort of answers," Ben and Rey looked up, curiosity obviously piqued. "They said it was once living down here," He said, pulling the now worn illustration from his jacket. "But it was woken up by a Jedi who was curious about a force pull,"

Ben glanced at Rey, though he didn't look smug. He simply looked sad.

"Did they say anything else?"

"No, only that it hides once a month, and people started disappearing once it woke up,"

"Do they have any idea where it goes during the day?"

"There were some ideas, I got some sketches, but I don't know how reliable they are," Poe pulled them out and handed them over to Rey.

She peeled them open. They would be helpful enough, and give them their bearings. Once she was done looking at them, she stood up and handed them over to Ben.

"I want to go with them," Finn blurted out, quite suddenly. All of them looked a bit shocked.

"Why?" Poe asked, obviously just as surprised.

"I'm good with a blaster," He said, rolling his shoulders into a shrug. "I think it would be good if a non-Jedi were there in case they get into trouble,"

"Rey?"

"It's fine with me," She glanced at Ben, who didn't seem to have an opinion.

Poe looked ready to argue. And then, he looked scared. Rey forgot that he likely cared about Finn much more than he let on, but in those moments it was easy to see it stretched across his features, plain for all to see. She felt concern for the once Storm-trooper reverberating off of him in waves.

"We'll be alright, Poe,"

He didn't seem too sure.

* * *

The next few days went by quickly. Rose fixed what she could, old blasters and communication devices that looked like they came from an era with Han Solo had been a very young man. Still, Rose had restored them to their natural state, and they worked just fine. They all decided that Finn should be the one in contact with Rose. Rose and Poe would stay behind, and BB-8 would go with them. The crew grew larger, but everyone seemed to agree that it was a good idea that a couple of them stay behind. Finn had been right, really - none of them knew how this thing would effect both of them, so it was probably a good idea to have someone around who wasn't so easily swayed.

Ben and Rey kept their distance. When each moment they had seemed to become pregnant with some sort of meaning they couldn't express, it got painful to be in each other's presence. Rey found herself wishing she could seek him out more often than not, and her dreams came back to her in full force - keeping her awake most nights.

She found the night before they were scheduled to go back up above one such night. She tossed and turned, and finally gave up on the idea of sleeping, even though she knew she was going to need it. They would take shifts up above, but one had to be seriously exhausted to sleep through the din that ensued once night fell. Finn had an idea that they might find an old speeder, or cargo drifter, so that they might cover more ground in a shorter period of time - but Rey still felt uneasy. It was a noise she wasn't likely to ever forget.

Rey's thoughts ran in this direction, and so she was distracted to the point that she hadn't noticed any movement - but the knock startled her back into the present. She jumped just a bit, surprised at herself for having let someone sneak up on her. She thought it would be Poe, who might not have been able to sleep himself, and who had an uncanny knack for knowing when she was up - so she was surprised to find Ben standing there.

"Can't sleep," He said, in as much of a conversational tone as he could manage.

"No," She said evenly in reply.

"Me either," He paused. "You think loudly,"

"I'm sorry, normally..." She wasn't sure what she wanted to say.

"You don't have to apologize,"

She stood back from the door, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. It wasn't an invitation, exactly, but it was an indication of sorts that he was welcome to come in if he wished. He stood there, looming, arguing with himself, before he dipped his head and followed her in. They both looked tired. Ben had the telltale circles under his eyes, and Rey was sure she did as well. He was wearing borrowed clothing, maybe Poe had found him something, but it was strange to see him in loose fitting sleeping gear. It humanized him in a way she found she was concerned by. He caught her looking at him, and she lifted her eyes to his face. He seemed to note the glint of the amber stone on her neck, and a small twitch of a smile lifted his lips. They felt blandly normal in moments like this one.

"You don't smile," She noted.

He didn't say anything in reply, only moving to sit some distance away from her on her cot - though inertia being what it was they both ended up somewhere in the middle. She found herself resting against him, and he shifted his arm so that it looped around her. It was comfortable, and Rey found her eyes growing heavy.

"I'm not very good at smiling," He said, his voice sleepy.

"You don't have much practice,"

"No," He laughed, and then he smiled. She was thankful she had looked up to see it, and she smiled in return.

"Practice makes perfect," Rey replied.

They fell asleep this way, as if they didn't have a care in the world.

* * *

When she woke up in the morning, he was gone. In the early morning hours, he had settled her back into her bed and draped her blanket over her. She found herself comfortable, and very wary of having to wake up. She knew she had to, though, especially as Poe started banging on her sleeping cube and telling her it was time to get up with promises of coffee. He really was like a mother hen sometimes.

She left the blanket behind, dressing herself in her usual clothes and tying her hair back into knots so that it was out of her face. She retrieved her newly fashioned staff and grabbed the pack she'd packed full of items the night before. The outing had required another trip to equip Finn, but they were now well equipped to make it a few days before they'd have to get back down here. Hopefully they wouldn't have any trouble getting back down here.

One of the elder creatures stopped by, mumbling something about bug spray and handing it off to Rey. She was thankful for the thought, having forgotten about the blood sucking bugs that decorated the flora and fauna of the planet. She got creepy crawly just thinking of the itchy welts they'd left behind, welts that had taken a few days to heal. They ate quickly and said their goodbyes before they began the trek back up to the surface.

The maps helped more than Rey realized. They had gotten lucky that they hadn't disappeared in the maze of corridors and died from lack of food, but Rey supposed she had the force to thank for that. She felt it draining away the closer they got to the surface, and they all shielded their eyes when they realized what an onslaught the sun was going to be for them. There had been light, but not quite like this. It caused a starburst of sensitivity to push out behind her eyes, but once they all adjusted, she found she was glad for the presence of the sun on her skin.

They headed in the direction of the temple. It seemed the best place to be when the night fell, though it was some distance off from where Poe had said the ship had landed. Finn was sure he had seen a speeder, though Rey was not optimistic that they would be able to get it to work, even though they all had a good deal of experience working with ships. Something about this place seemed to discourage working ships, however...no matter how one might try.

They were all on edge, and they were all extremely quiet. Rey knew that it was unlikely they would run into any of the creatures they had now, but that didn't stop her from feeling uneasy. Ben was back to stalking like a beast, and Finn had an intense set to his face that she had seen before. They followed the streets, keeping behind Finn and keeping an eye out as he tried to recall where he'd seen the speeder. After some searching, they found it. Finn set his pack down and began digging around for parts and tools that he'd managed to bring with him, though Rey couldn't tell if the diagnosis was good or bad. Ben kept to one side, and she kept to the other, both of them poised for something they could not see or even sense. The town was so eerily silent, and it had been empty for so long that Rey began to see signs of nature taking it back over. It was decay, and rebirth.

The day passed with Finn tinkering with the speeder, though it was less of a speeder and more of a cargo ship - meant for pulling supplies back and forth up-world but she couldn't say it would be very fast. It might be better than nothing, if they could get it to work. Eventually, both Finn and Ben were stooped over it, twisting and cranking and trying to get it to roar to life. Rey kept watch, but she grew even more uneasy as the sun fell lower into the sky. Night would come, inevitably. Ben showed some of his telltale impatient when he tossed a bolt. Rey turned as she heard it thunk off the hull of the ship and land somewhere in the dirt. In the sunlight, she squinted at him and he seemed to back off from his current path of just outright destroying the thing.

Finn looked at him, unimpressed, but they were both forced to continue working.

Finally, there seemed to be progress, as Rey heard it roar to life before giving a sort of chugging noise, indicating that it was running. Finn let out a proud whoop of approval, and when Rey looked back they both looked excited. She thought for a moment they might hug and shake hands, but it didn't happen. When she turned back towards the horizon where her eyes had been trained all day, she saw the same girl who had confronted her their first night here - standing in the dusty road.

She was covered in black goop, her mouth and teeth were smeared with it, and her eyes even looked black. Rey realized that they were like bugs - one for every ten you couldn't see, and began backing up towards the speeder.

"How's the repair coming?" She said uneasily.

The tone in her voice caused Ben to look up, and his eyes went in the direction of hers. A few more of the zombie-like townspeople had joined her, and were watching them curiously. It wasn't nightfall, not completely, but it was earlier than Rey had thought they'd see them. That made her even more uneasy. Without the cover of day, this was going to be more difficult than they thought it would be. She heard Finn banging on it, trying to un-stick the emergency brake of the thing so that it would go. It was rusted firmly in place, and Rey didn't see the point in trying to stick around and fix it. Finn was stubborn though, and he continued to bang at the thing, frustration evident in his face.

"Finn, we have to go," She said through her teeth, readying her weapon. She heard Ben's saber turn on.

"No, we can't leave this thing here, there's no way we'll get back in time without it," Another tell tale bang.

"We really should go," Ben tried to join in, but Finn ignored him outright, continuing his onslaught on the brake.

His motions became more hurried when he looked up and realized what they were worried about. The people were beginning to advance on them, and Rey had lost count of how many their were. Finn was about to get them killed, and Ben was about to try and do some killing. They both backed up against the machine, keeping themselves at the ready. The zombies broke into a blatant run, and Rey became more agitated.

"Finn, we really should go!" She shouted, though she realized the likelihood of them running out of there now might be slim.

Ben was the first to move forward, and he began cutting them down with ease, keeping himself away from the crowd in an attempt not to be overwhelmed. Rey spun her staff and did her best to kick and boot them away, hearing sickly crunches and cracks each time her foot connected with flesh.

"Finn!" She shouted again, though a moment later she heard the noise of the thing roaring completely to life, jutting forward with an initial burst of speed before bowling over a few of the townies. He barely paused to give either of them time to jump on, forcing Ben to hold onto the back and causing Rey to slide, not-so-gracefully - into the back of the thing. It was open, and when Rey glanced up, she found the group of them hurtling after them.

"Faster, go faster," She said, intensely, and Finn did his best to shift gears and push the thing as fast as it would go.

Rey sighed in relief when they put some distance between them, and the temple loomed overhead. Once they had rattled into the atrium, Finn turned the speeder off. She heard it putter out with a sad groan before stopping completely, causing them to all fall off of it.

The three of them stood there in silence, looking at each other. Ben and Finn were both covered in soot and grime from a day of trying to get a stubborn machine to work, and despite the presence of bug repellent, they had all gotten bitten. It had been hot, and they all looked like wilted flowers. It was Ben who spoke first.

"They run. Fast."

* * *

 **herhoherhoo~ what's this? TWO chapters in TWO days? probably won't eeever happen again.**

 **feedback is appreciated, even encouraged!**

 **pls tell me your thoughts and feels 3**

 **hope you enjoy**


	7. (Drift)

Finn scoffed before looking at Rey.

"Is he usually this observant?"

Rey only flopped down into the dirt after rolling her eyes, happy that they had made it back to the temple.

"I hate those things,"

"I think we all do,"

BB-8 gave a resounding chirp of agreement.

Finn moved back towards the speeder, retrieving his pack and digging out the communicator Rose had sent with him. He fussed with it while Ben moved towards the old campsite they'd kept here a few days ago. Rey stood up after a few moments and helped him set up camp. It started shortly thereafter, the awful throat singing - the towns people calling out with more than one voice. It sent a shiver down Rey's spine, still as horrid as it had been the first time she'd heard it. It was a sound she hadn't missed.

She pulled her blanket out of her pack and wrapped it around her, feeling like it might protect her from the noise. All she could do was drape it over her head like some sort of hood. Finn had spent a good half an hour talking to Rose and updating her on the goings on, but once he was finished, he came back to find the fire had been started. Ben had taken dried meat-jerky from his bag and handed it over to Rey, and he offered up a bag of it to Finn when the man came back. The stormtrooper grabbed it from him, before sitting next to Rey with a very resolute look on his face.

They all chewed in silence, and Rey occasionally glanced between the two of them, hoping that the tension would just fade, but it continued on, both of them stubborn enough to keep up with it. She took another bite from the dried meat, chewing idly before taking a drink of water from her canteen. She scooted closer to the fire, trying to think of something other than the horrid noises that were following them around like ghosts. Rey caught Ben looking at her, but she knew it was unlikely that they would be doing any cuddling with Finn around. He was already angry enough - Rey felt like she didn't need to poke the bear.

"I'll take first watch," Finn offered, after chewing all of his dinner. He seemed uninterested in keeping the silence with them, and he stood up and brushed off his pants before disappearing out into the night. He kept to the temple, but Rey was sure that he could see those glowing eyes surrounding the place.

Rey watched the fire dim a bit, declining the urge to poke it with a stick. Eventually, Ben got up and picked up a log he'd found somewhere and tossed it into the fire. It smelled strange, but eventually Rey got used to it. She watched it catch flame eventually, and found she had no desire to sleep. She could see Finn's back as he patrolled the temple, though she hoped that even though they had discovered how fast these creatures were - they wouldn't venture beyond the confines of the temple. He would take up patrolling, and Rey would watch him as he passed through, but eventually she had to look at Ben.

He was looking back at her, his eyes sad and searching. He glanced away, tossing the remnants of his jerky into the fire. Rey smelled it as it smoked, scooting back just a bit to avoid it. It was strange how they vacillated between uncomfortable and comfortable. Finally, Ben stood up and moved around the camp fire. He was looming again, though somewhere during the day he'd shed his cape and his jacket, leaving him decked in a short sleeved, black shirt. She could see that silver glinting around his neck, but it was quickly hidden beneath the scoop neck of the shirt.

He sat next to her, so close that she could see the silvery outline of scars that slid along the meat of his arms. She reached out, unaware of what she was doing, and let her fingers trace the scar. He didn't seem surprised, but he turned to watch her hand as it drew along his skin. He was warm, causing a tingle to fizzle up beneath her fingertips, which were ice cold.

"Is it bad?" She pointed to his middle.

"No,"

She wondered, idly, how many times he'd been injured before. She could hear pieces of his thoughts; a memory, a scar to remember what he'd done. It split your spirit to the bone. Snoke echoed fervently there, even if he was dead.

"You're not a good liar,"

"I am good liar," He said, quickly in reply. "But not to you,"

"I don't think so," She admitted. He wore everything he felt on his face. It was no wonder he had formed an attachment to a mask.

"I should keep Finn company," It was as if he had heard an echo of her own thoughts, and it was conversation he didn't want to continue having.

"Wake me up when it's my turn,"

* * *

Rey slept fitfully, and then not at all. She woke up during the dark hours of the oncoming morning, finding that Finn had taken a place near the fire and was curled up in his blanket. He was smart, he had brought some foamy bits to stuff into his ears. She smirked at him, lifting the blanket to cover his exposed shoulders. He slept tightly against himself, and his face was sort of twisted up like he was having a bad dream. Maybe this whole thing was a bad dream, to him.

Rey wasn't exactly surprised to find that Ben wasn't there, but she found herself drawn to the perimeter to look for him. She followed the trek of the parole they had set up, and became a bit concerned when she couldn't find him. What was this? Concern for Kylo Ren? She began to follow her instinct, though she was sure it would fail her considering where they were. There were whispers of him, here and there, or was it just her concern that lead her? It was hard to say, considering she felt that same smothering of the force now as she did then.

However, she was sure she could feel him, pushing at the edges of her consciousness.

When she finally spotted him, he was standing still against the backdrop of a strangled, vine infested planet. She could hear the beast moving, knocking plants and trees down in it's wake. It was a familiar sensation, causing Ben to reach out and stop her with his arm before she moved any further. She felt the strength in him, the pure desire to keep her from going any further. Did this mean that they were still able to sense the force, through each other?

She felt it flare up as he touched her, felt the beat of his heart and the life that was still living on this planet. She felt each thrum of the destruction that the beast caused. Ben must have not been expecting it, because he pushed back as if he'd been shocked. They were unable to keep staring at one another, as the burst of energy seemed to outright alert the creature that had once been destroying and grazing.

"Run," He murmured, firmly, and they both turned, attempting to sense the beast behind them as it began slumping after them.

It was then that Rey got a glimpse of it, as harried and fearful as it was. It was huge, and it was so many shapes that Rey had a hard time taking it all in, considering they were currently running away from it. She could tell then that whatever the vines were that were strangling the planet, this creature had something to do with it. It looked almost like a jumble of vines itself, and Rey could make no heads or tails of it. Ben had longer legs than she, but she managed to keep up with him in any case, though she could see his jaw tensing before she saw him reach out and grab her hand, pulling her along much like Finn had once done. They didn't have time to argue, and once they were both back inside the barrier of the temple, they held their breaths in the dark, hoping that whatever it was would not follow them here.

They stood there with their backs pressed against the wall as they heard the thing groan outside, knocking over more detritus in it's wake. They both held their breaths, their hands grasped tightly together as they tried to wait the tense moment out. Eventually, after what seemed like a very long time, they heard the creature lose interest and move off into the distance. Rey hadn't realized it, but the throat singing had stopped - only to start again once the thing wandered off to wreck more of the planet. Rey was the first to release his hand. She let hers drop to her side before she turned to get a better look at what was going on beyond.

Rey initially thought that the sudden shock of the force had something to do with the creature, but when she was looking out across the dark night, covered with a slate gray sky and dotted with what seemed to be a thousand glowing eyes, she felt Ben touch her. He brushed a curl of her hair from the nape of her neck, and it sent another strange shock down her spine, allowing her to sense more than she had before. She could tell the result was much the same for Ben, as he drew his fingers away again as if shocked.

This time, it was less abrupt.

He swallowed visibly, and she watched as his lips pursed together just a bit. She found herself feeling his reticence, heard an echo of his thoughts. She reached out with both hands, resting each on either side of his neck, one thumb placed idly on the dip of his jaw (which was currently tensed). Rey's thoughts were totally blank. There was only the peace of the void beyond, and the complete sense of the man standing in front of her. She had almost touched it before, but now it seemed there would be no one to interrupt them. Finn felt miles off, on the other end of the atrium.

They appeared to be trying to steady themselves with each other - or at least that was what Rey told herself.

Ben's fingertips grasped her clothing, pulling it taut against her body. The sensation felt completely foreign, and it caused her to gasp. She felt the uncanny warmth of his hands bleeding through the layers of her clothing, which caused the blood to rush directly to her face. His mouth found hers in a heated connection, and he kissed her until they were both breathless, causing him to pull back just to take a breath of air before he kissed her again. She might have felt suffocated, but she felt the alluring pull of him against her - and for once her mind wasn't pushing her to stop. (Stop this. Stop this madness.)

There was a rush, and there was no time to undress completely.

It happened quickly, a shedding of what was necessary. They both seemed to move without thought, Ben nearly tearing away her clothing and Rey nearly returning the favor. Their lips never seemed to disconnect, until she found his mouth on her neck, trailing the column of fair skin before he pressed his lips into the dip where her collarbones met. She felt it everywhere, the subtle heat of his mouth sending a flash of fervor through her body. She released a strangled moan, clamping her mouth shut in an attempt to keep herself silent.

When the calloused pad of his fingertips brushed the bud of her nipple, she released another such noise, which Ben silenced with an all consuming kiss. She felt bruised, exposed, and vulnerable. When she felt him enter her, she released one ragged moan into the kiss, glad to find it was swallowed up by his mouth. She felt so loud, unable to gauge how silent they were being. He gave a groan to match hers, which melted into her, and they began moving together - drawn forward by some sort of furious intent.

"Ben," She muttered his name, breathless, using her hands to try and grasp the earth and stone that was underneath her, trying to keep herself from free falling into whatever it was they were doing. He didn't respond, but continued his onslaught, moving inside of her with such a ferocity that she found herself wrapping her legs around him in an attempt to give him more leverage.

It was over relatively rapidly, the sudden outpouring and intensity of it condemning them both to a brief interlude. There was a building of pressure, and then Rey's vision went white, washing away the entire galaxy with it. They were both robbed of their voices, Rey so much so that she could hardly breathe and air was caught in her throat. She tried, she tried to keep the noise from escaping her, but she couldn't help the last pretty moan that drew itself out of her throat. When the overwhelming sensation came to an end, and her vision returned, her chest heaved up and down as she attempted to regain her breath. She was intensely aware of Ben; his heavy breathing, the weight of him, and the chill of the soil beneath her.

She felt oversensitive to everything, the feel of the clothing against her skin, the brush of his breath tickling her neck as he sought refuge against her. She reached up, pushing her fingertips through his dark hair. It was a tangle of curls, and it looked like a shimmering bird feather in the moonlight. In his own way, he was beautiful. Her thumb-tip traced the scar she'd given him, feeling out the ridges of flesh before his eyes were drawn up. There, in the light, they certainly resembled amber. Her hand wandered across his features.

An understanding seemed to pass between them - they could have stayed there, but both of them realized the importance of being back before Finn woke up. He was the first to stand, righting himself and his clothing. He got a good long look at her in the moonlight before she stood, readjusting her own clothing. They watched each other curiously while they composed themselves, but for the time being, the connection to the force flowed through them both without any interruption. She could tell he was relieved, and she felt as if they might have a chance to get off of this planet.

How strange, that it would require reliance on one another. Would they both blame Snoke in the morning, when they were full of regrets?

Until then, Ben took her hand, and they meandered very slowly back towards camp - a secret held between both of their bodies.

* * *

The morning held very little excitement. They kept mum about their wandering away from the campfire, unsure of how to tell Finn what they had seen. Finn seemed to sense that something was going on, and spent a good twenty minutes looking between both Rey and Ben while munching noisily on his breakfast. BB-8 also seemed to pick up on something, though he could only give a defeated trill of annoyance when it became clear that they might not figure out what it was that day.

Finn had found some fuel for the old cargo speeder they had managed to rescue the day before. Rey had the sunburn to prove it, though she felt strangely at odds with herself as well. Something had changed. They all gathered up BB-8 and all of their equipment, hoping not to have to spend another night above ground if possible. They worked together in silence, mostly, trying to exchange lame pleasantries and make their way to where Poe had said the Falcon would be without any incident.

They found the bog, but the situation was more dire than any of them had known. The ship had sunk completely into the swampy area, and only a small part of it was above mud. The three of them hopped out of the speeder, moving towards the bog, which seemed to be stealthily swallowing up the ship the more that they stood there watching it.

Finn was the first to speak.

"Who wants to go for a swim?"

"I doubt we will be able to get into it with all of the mud," Ben said, somewhat abruptly.

"Oh yeah? You got a better idea, fly boy?" Finn said, reaching down to grab a handful of stones and toss them into the mud, hearing a few of them thunk off of the exposed bit of the ship.

"I think Rey and I can pull it out of there,"

"What about all of that 'we can't feel the force' poodoo?" Finn asked, glancing at Rey.

"I think we might have found...a workaround," Rey fought the urge to choke on her own words.

"Oh great, a workaround. How convenient. Well, go on then,"

Rey and Ben took hands. It might have not been necessary, but it connected them both to the power they had so been desperately missing almost immediately. They both closed their eyes, hands gripped loosely before they began to focus on the task at hand. At first, it seemed as if it wasn't working, and Finn gave a scoff to indicate his disapproval. Still, they both continued to focus, feeling the waves of energy floating out around them - pulling from them to try and rattle the Falcon lose from the mud.

There was a rumbling, as they pulled the ship from the mud. Inertia fought them the entire way, but when they gripped each other's hands, it seemed to give them a surge of power that shook the Falcon halfway from it's watery grave. Rey had a small doubt, hoping that what they were doing here would not wake anything up. They fought, both of them breaking out a sweat, holding onto each other in much the same way that they had the night prior.

Finn started getting excited the more that they drew the ship upwards, until it was as if one great, invisible hand had plucked it up and dropped it aside. Finn gave a whoop of celebration, but the celebration was short lived when they realized how clogged up with swamp muck the ship had gotten. It took a good two hours until they could enter it, and even after they had dug the mud out strange slugs clung to the hulls of the ship and occasionally flung themselves in the direction of the nearest person.

"Han would be so pissed," Finn said, though there was an awkward silence that reigned after both he and Rey shot Ben a look. He acted nonplussed, and they began the process of trying to fix the ship so that they could get a signal out to the alliance.

Rey found no sense that her lightsaber was still there, even as she reached out and tried to find it. Neither she nor Ben seemed to have any idea where it had ended up. Perhaps it was still in the swamp, but stranger still was how it had even gotten off of the ship. Had she mistakenly taken it with her in her zombie state? Had she left it somewhere?

Finn took his muck covered pack from his shoulder and dug out the communicator, tinkering with it and moving around the small hull until he got a response. When Rose finally broke in, though very weakly (likely because of the distance), she tried to talk and troubleshoot Finn through fixing the ship just enough to get a signal out. He explained that he wasn't sure how likely it was that they'd fix the Falcon. In her distraction trying to help Finn explain, she hadn't realized that Ben had wandered off. She followed him, or rather the sense of him, down the hallways where his father had once been not so long ago.

He seemed afraid to touch anything. She expected to feel that anger rise up in her, but when she began reaching for it all that remained was sadness. What Snoke had said was true - it had split him, right down the middle. It was too late to take back what he had done, and she felt a tear rolling down her cheek as she watched him. Still, she sensed that it was likely better to let him alone for the time being - and returned to help Finn try and figure the signal out.

They must have lost track of the time, because once they saw the sky again, they realized it was getting dark. They had managed to send off a signal, but really, none of them knew if it had worked. It was obvious they were all exhausted, and Finn thought they might make it back to the underground before it got dark. Rey began to see the strange people coming out from somewhere while they were zooming through the streets. She expected that they would be chased, but instead, the strange people just stood and stared, before returning to their obvious activity of chewing on the vines. She wondered if they would go back to normal once the beast was dead...but she found she thought that was not likely.

She wondered if any others survived, and had taken to going underground like the other creatures. They were a silent group on the way back, though Rey found she was thankful for the speeder. She felt as if she couldn't stand another night sleeping in that temple with these two silent men who very clearly had nothing positive to say to one another. Not that she blamed Finn, and Ben, well Ben seemed to keep his mouth shut just to avoid saying anything at all because of her. They were all trying to survive this, and Rey felt a sort of sadness clench up in the middle of her chest when she realized what they would all return to. The fight - and this strange few weeks on this planet would seem like a dream.

* * *

The slug back to the main area was slow, and tiring. They got lost once, but eventually they found the small "town" that had been carved into the cave. Finn and Rose gave each other an awkward hug, considering they were all covered in muck before disappearing, likely to go wash off and change. Poe was nowhere to be found, but Rey thought it was likely he was trying to find out more information about the creature above. She would corner him later and ask what he had found out.

Ben turned to look at her, and a beat of something passed between them, causing Rose to pause and give them both an extra long look. Rey finally said: "What?" Though Rose only shook her head and went back to working on making food for herself. It was likely she could feel the tension rolling off of all of them, though none of them said anything before going their different ways.

Rey felt like she needed to be alone for just a moment, and she dropped her belongings in her small room before heading towards the pools where she could bathe in silence. She found the hot water to be extremely pleasant, unaware of how bruised she was from the expedition. Her arms were sore, as if she'd been carrying tension in her neck. She tried to force herself to relax, sinking deep into the water and closing her eyes.

It was of no use, every time she closed her eyes she was haunted with his image, and the feel of his hands ghosting along her. It was like she'd been infected with some sort of virus, and the symptom was to never have a clear head again. She found herself wishing he was there, just so that she could touch him and feel the quiet of the void again.

She sat up with a start, shaking her head and opening her eyes. She took a deep breath, trying to balance herself. It came after she began to focus on the small sound of the water moving around her. Some part of him was always there, though - pushing around the edges of her consciousness.

She was becoming sure that no matter how far they got from one another, they might not ever be able to break this bond.

* * *

 **(sorry this chapter is so short, it seemed like a good place to end it. also, this fic is now mature hooeheheuhu sorry, cover your eyes if you shouldn't be reading! i'm super unsure about this chapter, so any feedback would be appreciated. also, if you're curious, this is the song i listed to while i wrote it:** **watch?v=fA8paY4oKoI ENJOY!)**


	8. Alteration finds

She didn't have to seek Poe out, as Poe found her. Her hair was still damp from her bath, but she'd dressed and she was on her way to find out what sort of food she could scrounge up. She had done her best to keep her thoughts off of Ben, and was glad for Poe's distraction when he finally did find her.

He looked harried, and a bit uncomfortable, but he said he had found a few facts out about the creature that lived above. They sat down around the fire, and it appeared that Poe had gathered everyone. Ben was there, his hair inky and damp, indicating that he had had the same idea as she had. Rose sat beside Finn, who was still dirty - his face unreadable. She could hear his thoughts pushing out into the group, though she did her best to ignore them. It felt unkind to push her way into someone's thoughts without their permission, despite the strange ability that she and Ben had to stay connected to one another.

Her eyes caught on him, and he seemed aloof, almost hurt. She couldn't guess why, but when she moved to sit beside him - he stood and moved to stand off to the right of the fire. Poe noticed the snub, but he only looked at the two of them for a beat or two longer than he might have before he pulled out a small notebook. Rey had to think he would have made a good detective, in another light.

"Well, how's the Falcon?"

"Covered in muck and not starting," Finn replied, grumpily. "But I think we were able to get a distress signal out,"

"Good, let's hope that the First Order doesn't get it first," He said before he began flicking through his notes. "Obviously this thing doesn't like sunlight," He admitted. "The locals believe it goes underground, but they've never been able to prove that. There was an old woman who kept saying something about the trees, but I couldn't really get anything more clear out of her,"

"The trees?" Rey asked, curious.

"Yeah," Poe flicked to the next page. "There's a belief that whatever lives inside of that thing was once a Jedi,"

Rey and Ben both looked up at the same time.

"Which would explain why they don't like Jedis," Ben said, quietly.

"But..." Rey paused. "That thing doesn't seem to have any self aware thought. It's just moving out of instinct. It can't be a Jedi,"

"No, maybe not, but it's obvious it's got some sort of connection to the Force," Ben replied, looking at her for the first time. Was it regret she saw there?

Rey found herself stumped. Of course, everything had a connection to the force, but to channel it like that was odd. Maybe the creature was rare, thousands of years old and limited only to the farthest reaches of space, but she had never heard of anything quite like it.

"We already know this," Poe continued on. "But the people that once lived up there have become dependent on the vines that the creature produces," He paused. "They say that at first it creatures a sort of euphoric effect,"

"It must be highly addictive, then," Finn muttered, glancing at Rose, who looked tired and surprised all at the same time.

"Do you think there's a chance that some of them will be okay after it's gone?"

Rey looked at Ben, who then answered.

"It's not likely,"

"So," Poe continued. "I think we need to try and find where it goes during the day,"

"That's probably our best bet," Rose replied. "Were you able to find your saber, Rey?"

"No, it wasn't there," She admitted.

"Well, I'm sure that we can find something that would suit in it's place, and he has his, right?" They were all still in the habit of talking about Ben like he was some sort of lurking creature, rather than a person.

Rey nodded.

"But how are we supposed to kill it? Ben and I caught a glimpse of it when we were up there,"

Finn looked up, suddenly interested.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wanted to tell everyone all together,"

"What does it look like?"

"It's a big giant tangle of vines that moves," Ben said, almost sarcastically.

"Creepy," Rose said, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Me, or the beast?" Ben said, though it was obvious he was just trying to get a rise out of somebody.

"Both," Finn said in reply, standing up and kicking dirt into the fire. It sizzled, but it wasn't enough to put it out. "What does all of this mean, anyway?"

Poe rolled his shoulders into a shrug. Rey seemed thoughtful for a few moments before she spoke up again. "Is it possible that the vine was harmless, and a force-user became addicted to it?"

"I'm more inclined to think it's an alien of some sort," Ben said, folding his long limbs up as he plopped himself next to the fire. It was often that she saw the shadow of that scared boy, lurking within his tall frame. "I can't imagine ripping that thing away from the force is going to be easy. Who knows what will happen to planet if we do,"

"Well, hopefully we'll be long gone by then," Finn said, in his rather cavalier manner. Rose pinched him.

Ben was the first to disappear from the fire, but Rey was quick to get up and follow him. She knew he knew she was following him, but he ignored her steps and continued with his lumbering pace back to his room. She ran, trying to catch up with him, but he disappeared into it and shut the door behind him. She could hear it locking, and she gave a few resounding bangs.

"Open the door," She said firmly, though she was met with only silence. "Ben, I know you're in there. Open the door,"

Silence.

"Fine, I'll open it,"

She was prepared to knock it down with brute force, it wasn't going to be that hard, but on her way she saw it swing open, and she stumbled gracelessly into his rooms. He was sitting on his bed, having shucked his cape and laid it aside. He looked at her, in that pouting way, but she was beginning to think that was just the nature of his face, even though she had seen him smile before.

"What's wrong?" She asked, in a huff, using her newly reinvigorated powers to slam his door shut.

"We shouldn't be spending any more time alone together," He said resolutely. Rey found herself hurt by it, and she stepped back as if the force of it had physically connected with her.

"What? Ben, the only way we're going to get off of this planet is if we work together,"

"Fine," He said. "I'll do what I have to do, but what we did," He glanced away from her. "It was-"

"It was a mistake?" She said, unable to fight off the tears building up in her eyes, stinging. "I can't believe this," She muttered, swiping her eyes.

"You know as well as I do that this whole damned thing is inconvenient,"

"Inconvenient?" She said, angry now. "Yes, I suppose it is. I imagine Snoke is laughing, wherever the hell he is,"

"I'm not supposed to feel this way for you," He paused. "If you're to be a Jedi, you're not supposed to feel this way for anyone. It's a distraction, a disconnection-"

"You sound like Luke," Even though Luke had never had this conversation with her, she could almost hear him speaking through his nephew in that moment. "Maybe they were wrong, Ben. They are all dead. Maybe I don't want to be a Jedi, maybe you don't have to go back,"

"I have chosen my path," He said, resolutely.

"No you haven't," Rey said, defeated. "Fine," She swiped again at her tears, unaware of how much it would hurt to be rejected - especially by him. She felt their connection slam shut, leaving a pall on the room. She didn't know how he'd done it, but he had.

She shook her head and quietly left the room. There would be no further arguing with him about it.

* * *

Rey felt the loneliness swallow her up whole.

There were times when she wanted to give into it, but she tried to keep her connection to the force open. She didn't know how they were supposed to do this without each other, since their abilities only seemed to work when Snoke's forced connection was working.

The others had noticed, though none of them said anything. Not even Poe, who seemed as if he really wanted to. Rey had known it was coming, had feared it - had expected it, but nothing had really prepared her for it. She had found someone who could help her see her way through all of this, it was only unfortunate that it had been Kylo Ren.

Of course it had been Kylo Ren. It was as if it was some sort of huge cosmic joke, and she could imagine all of the masters having gone before her watching her try to navigate it with some amusement. She wondered what Luke would think. There were times when she wished he would show up, wished he would impart some wisdom on her that would make all of this easier, but the silence continued on. Luke had been at peace, what interest did he have in continuing on with the affairs of the galaxy when he no longer had a place in it?

There was times when she wanted nothing more than to just be in his presence, and the thought of it shocked her back into her senses - or, it often did anyway. She wondered if he was feeling the same way.

The days felt long. Ben avoided her and she avoided him. There were times when his guard would slip, at night when he slept or when he was distracted, and they would catch tidbits of each other, but it never lasted. Rey felt unbalanced in a way she hadn't anticipated, but Ben kept it up with a stony resoluteness.

Slowly, they all made a plan. They would be leaving the underground, going back above surface. They would have to pack to try and make it last, because none of them knew how long it was going to take to find that thing, and none of them knew what was going to happen once they did. They thought it was important to get Rose back to the Falcon, to see if she could get it working again. They all made an agreement with Ben that they would help him find his ship, as long as he agreed to wait until they were long gone to hail his first order compatriots - - who were probably already searching for him. He was their 'supreme leader', after all.

It would take some time, but Rey felt better having a plan than not.

The locals that lived underground were happy to help them stock up, after they all seemed to understand what the group was trying to do. They were trying to untangle the planet from whatever the beast was, and it was a goal that it seemed all of them could get behind. They agreed to send with them some of their best scavengers, who would help them keep stocked and help them keep their wits about them in case they needed directional assistance.

A week or so had passed since the last time they'd gone above, and they had all made a decision that it was better to remain down here for as long as possible until they had every thing in order. If Rose was able to get the Falcon working, they might be able to get off of the planet without a confrontation, but none of them thought that seemed likely. Whatever that thing was seemed to have some sort of electrical pull, and it caused everything that came within it's orbit to malfunction. Rey wondered if it even knew how much power it had.

That night, she sat by the fire by herself. She was anxious, and trying to fight the urge to knock on Ben's door. She wasn't going to accept pity from him, even if her uglier emotions wanted her too. She wanted to win out over them, and decided to try and focus on other things. She had her blanket draped around her shoulders and her hair down - her feet tucked beneath her to avoid the chill. She wasn't exactly surprised when Poe showed up, it was as if he didn't sleep any more than she did these days.

He sat beside her in silence, and the fire light carved out the circles beneath his eyes with intensity. They sat there like that in companionable silence before Poe spoke.

"Something to drink?"

"Your family recipe?"

"Sure," He said, rising from his chair to see what he could scrounge up before she found him sitting beside her again, handing her a mug full of strong smelling liquid. "It's a little stronger this time. Looks like both of us could use it,"

She smiled, weakly, and took a sip - coughing a bit as it burned its way down her throat.

"What happened up there?" Poe asked, after a few moments of quiet.

"I don't know," Rey said, and she meant it. She pulled her blanket more tightly around herself.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really," She murmured. "Have you ever been in love?"

"Yes," He admitted. "But it seems to always happen with people who aren't in love with me,"

Rey thought of Finn, and frowned, before bumping her glass against his.

"Well, cheers to being the unloved," She said, playfully. Finn smiled at her and took a drink of his own drink - and they sat like that until the morning.

The next night, she woke up with a start as if from a nightmare.

She found that Luke's glowing blue visage was standing there, though he wasn't looking at her. Finally he turned, smirking in that way he sometimes did.

"I've been waiting forever to be able to do this," He said, glancing at Rey. She was almost relieved to see him, but she remembered how mercurial he was.

"Well I guess being a Jedi is about floating rocks and coming back as a blue specter,"

"Wrong as usual," He said, moving like he was going to sit down.

"What are you doing here? I thought these visits were usually regulated to Jedi only,"

"Not so, I just visited my idiot nephew,"

Rey looked away, realizing he probably knew what had happened between them.

"He is an idiot," Luke repeated. "Only way you two are going to get out of here is if he realizes what an idiot he is,"

"That's unlikely,"

"No, all you have to do is threaten to kill him,"

Rey barked out a bit of laughter.

"You think I'm kidding?" He gave her a wink. "See you around kid,"

A sentiment that often echoed Han Solo.

As expected, the visit hadn't been very helpful at all.

* * *

The days were fast approaching that they would no longer be protected underneath the cover of the ground. Rey felt better that they would all be together again, but the more she thought about what Luke had told her, the more she realized it made some sort of dark sense. Ben had agreed to help her, he had agreed to help all of them, and with his sudden closure of all the doors that had been opened between them, Rey didn't believe the agreement stood anymore.

And maybe Luke was right - maybe the impulsive man only responded to brute force. She didn't want to ask him to love her, she seemed to realize they might have been beyond ordinary love, but she didn't believe they were going to withstand a battle with that thing above without their connection open and flowing. It was obvious that it was the only thing that connected them to the force with that thing sucking it away like a vacuum. She wondered if Snoke had known exactly what he'd done.

That night, she sneaked out of her chambers, finding he had locked the door to his. When she pressed her ear against the door and settled her own breathing, she could hear him breathing with the steady stillness of someone who was asleep. She hated him for being able to sleep, but she had never thought that their connection was maybe a source of discomfort for him.

Rey was an orphan of no name, which meant that she had some skills that couldn't be taught by Jedi - such as picking locks quietly. She didn't want to alert him to using the force, so she did it out of muscle memory. The door could have easily been blown down, but that would have woken him up. She crept in, thankful to find that he was still sleeping.

His lightsaber wasn't in plain view, which put a wrench into her plans. She wondered if he'd been smart enough to hide it somewhere else, but when she reached out and told it to find her, it did, flying right into her hands. She didn't like his saber, but she had used it before. The force had him shifting in his sleep, his eyes twitching beneath their lids. He still didn't stir, though.

When it came on, it crackled with energy and noise, and stained the room an awful, dire red. She held it in hand, and she realized this was much like when he was a boy and Luke had tried to kill him. She had no intention of trying to kill him - but she realized when he did stir, the look on his face was one of utter betrayal.

And then suddenly, he was Kylo Ren again. She felt him push back against her, sliding her out of her stance. He came after her, trying to get the saber back, but she managed to fight him off. They had little room to work in, but it became obvious with the misdirection of her swings that she wasn't trying to kill him.

"What are you doing?" Ben asked, enraged.

"Just thought I'd have a late night training session," She said, placing her foot into his gut as he came nearer to her and shoved him off, the saber swinging close enough to singe the fabric of his sleep wear.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Well," She said, swinging it in his direction in a loop as he tried to come near again, forcing him to jump out of the way and knock his cot aside. "Since you've not held up your part of the agreement, I don't see why I should have to hold up mine,"

"What?" He roared, as if it was the craziest thing he'd ever heard. "What agreement?"

"You said that you would help us," Another swing, singing the blanket on his bed. "You said that you would help me," The second swing hit it's mark, causing him to stumble back with a groan. Oops. The moment of distraction gave him an opening, and he drew forward, grasping her arm and shaking the lightsaber free of her grasp.

It fell, useless, on the ground - sliding it's way underneath his overturned cot.

The action and noise had drawn the attention of their compatriots, and they found Finn, Poe and Rose standing in the entry way, all of them in their night things, all of them looking a mixture between irritated and bemused. Rose just looked confused, and her lips pushed together a few times as if she was trying to find the words. Poe leaned against the doorway, looking a mixture of smug and amused, crossing his arms around his chest and smirking at Rey,

"Are you two done?"

Ben didn't look done, and when his voice boomed out it caused all of them to jump.

"Get out!" He shouted, slamming the door behind them with an outstretched hand that quickly turned into a fist. Ben certainly didn't look like he was done, and they both eyed the lightsaber as if either of them were ready to dive for it at any moment.

It was then both of them heard what sounded like Luke Skywalker laughing - heckling them from beyond the grave.

Ben rounded in on her like a predator, rage obvious on his face, obvious in his gritted teeth. Rey felt rather light, and was ready to battle him if need be, but it was obvious in her look that she wasn't serious about killing him, at least not right then. She lifted her head defiantly, much as she had done the first time she'd seen him unmasked. Time had changed him, and time had changed her. He was no longer baby-faced, and she was no longer so naive to believe that she might be able to change his chosen course, but she was not about to give up hope. Even if he disappointed her - she knew she had to do what she could to re-open their connection just so that they could get off of this forsaken rock hurtling through space.

"Go on, Kylo Ren," She said, still defiant. "Do your worst,"

She could tell he wanted to, he moved like an animal caged, but in his heart there was conflict. He was mad about her antics, but not mad enough to kill her. She watched him fight with himself, his hand rising up in it's formidable way, as if he was about to put a choke on her, but nothing came except for the shaking of his hand before he released a groan, letting it drop back to his side. Once had been enough for Ben Solo, though Kylo Ren was much more unpredictable, she knew he'd pledged something of himself to her when they'd fought to save each others lives, even if she hadn't joined him.

He had followed her here, after all.

"Why are you doing this?" He finally asked.

"Doing what?"

"Forcing this...connection," She could feel it, his shame. It had been the first time he had ever let his walls down like that, and it surprised her. It must have shown on her face. "I didn't have time for trysts,"

"It wasn't a tryst," She said, moving to right his cot. "And you must be as stupid as they say you are if you think we're going to get out of here with you shutting off our only connection to the force,"

"What was it then?" He asked, suddenly tame.

"I don't know," She murmured, handing him back his lightsaber once she'd picked it up. "It doesn't have to happen again. We're going to have to keep the connection open if we want to get out of here, though,"

It seemed to be a fair agreement. He seemed to be thinking it over. She sat down on his cot, and he sat down beside her. She felt his presence in a painful way, after having spent over a week avoiding him. It was odd to have him so near. She realized his actions had been that of that frightened boy that she often saw in him. His parents had loved him, but she couldn't imagine what it must have been like for his uncle to try and kill him.

Finally, he nodded.

"You're right," He admitted. "But what was that all about?" He pointed to the light saber.

"Blame an old Jedi,"

Ben seemed to know immediately who she was talking about, and rubbed the back of his head like he'd recently been hit there.

* * *

It came to fruition in the next few days that they would be going back above. Rey felt exhausted with it already, but she knew it was necessary to get them home. They had to move forward, they couldn't just spend the rest of their lives hiding in caves, despite some small voice in her mind that said it might not be so bad. There was a big, galactic war going on, and she couldn't just ignore it. She couldn't just ignore Ben, who she was sure would return to his same old tricks once he got off of the planet.

She honestly didn't know if he had it in him to kill her, if it ever came down to it. She didn't know if she had it in her, either.

The ice had melted a bit between them, but the easy companionship they'd found previously was a bit stiffled. Maybe it was what had happened, but they were very careful about how they spoke to and touched one another. The others just seemed glad that they weren't fighting anymore, though Finn had obviously been hopeful that Rey would stick that lightsaber right in his chest a few nights prior. He had been disappointed to find that no one had died, excepting a few singed clothes and skin cells.

They were old hands at this by now, but Rose and Poe hadn't been up with them the last brief trip they'd had. The day was hot, so humid that once they hit air it was almost like they'd all had another shower. Ben shed his cloak and his jacket, and Rey and the others were forced to do the same. They split up, Finn, Rose and Poe taking the speeder (that surprisingly still worked) back towards the temple - and Rey and Ben continued on foot. They hiked along in silence, Ben's strides sometimes overtaking hers so she was forced to speed up to catch up with him.

It took them a couple of hours to complete the hike, and the others had beaten them there. Something had happened, and Rose had been able to destroy the access box so that the temple actually opened up to them. Finn stood watch on the outside, with an old blaster in hand. He looked as if he was seriously considering using it on Ben, but they passed him with a brief nod, forced to look up to the high, stained glass ceilings.

They spun around, trying to make sense of the story it was telling, but they were interrupted by a raucous beep that came from BB-8. It reminded her of a little droid scream, but he was trying to tell them to come look. There were living areas, empty of food but filled with places to sleep and blankets. She could see the students sleeping there, curled in their beds, waiting for the next day to come for their lessons to continue. She wondered what had happened. Life, probably, sending them all to separate ends of the galaxy to be slaughtered by some sith lord or worse.

Rose and Finn stood in the center, turning to look at the pair as they came through.

"We can stay in here," Rose said, cheerfully. "Might be a bit more comfortable. Plus, I saw some other rooms. I bet one of these rooms has supply cylinders, maybe even better weapons. We might even be able to find a saber for you, Rey," Rose seemed hopeful, and Rey nodded.

She was distracted though, by the place that had suddenly become open to her, and she felt herself being drawn - much like she had the first time she'd ever really responded to the pull of the force. She didn't realize that Ben was following her, until they both found themselves standing in what looked to be a class room, pillows circling a podium that was dropped into the earth instead of raised up.

Her light saber was there, right in the middle.

She looked at Ben before moving over to stare at it, her brows dropping in confusion as she wondered at it.

How had it gotten there?

* * *

 **After much mucking about with an AU, a new chapter for you! Share/comment and follow me if you like! I'm looking for other AU ideas, as I probably won't be picking up the actual star wars universe again until the next movie is out, so if you have anything you'd like to see me write, send me a message!**


	9. No Jedi, All Dead

That night, it rained.

It was an all consuming, torrential rain that came down in sheets - which prevented them from doing much of anything - anything other than sitting there and waiting for it to pass. Rey found herself alone, in one of the chambers that a Jedi student had likely held before her, with her lightsaber sitting beside her as if they were both in thought. The chambers were like little pods, but Rey was glad to find that when she pulled back the heavy, dusty curtains, there was a large window that looked out over the planet.

The rain storm was unlike anything Rey had ever seen - the sky flashing a bright, bruised purple each time the lightning crashed - proceeded by a large boom of thunder. It was so loud sometimes that it shook the windows, but Rey found it somewhat soothing. The lights in the room were off, and though the day had been humid, she found it cooled down considerably with the rain. She sat with her knees pulled up and her arms slung over her kneecaps where she rested her face and kept her thoughts on the storm. She found herself resisting thinking of anything else, why they were there and how it had ended up the way it had. She made herself push any thoughts of Ben Solo from her head - though her reprieve was not a long one.

She felt him standing at her back, the hairs on her bare neck raising just a tad as his looming, dark presence made itself known. She turned her head, though she didn't look at him full on. She had to admit, she was waiting to see what he might do. When he continued to stand there, stalwart, like a statue, she rolled her eyes and focused back on the storm. For so much impulse, he certainly had a hard time making decisions.

"I don't feel like doing this right now," She finally said. It was a sentiment that echoed an earlier one, but this time, he didn't respond.

She heard his heavy foot falls, and she expected them to disappear, but he came nearer. He sat down beside her, large even when he was sitting. She hated how much she responded to him, and how aware of him she was, but she did her best to ignore it without physically moving away from him. If this was to be a game, she would stand her ground.

"Me either," He finally said, his voice echoing in her head as it once had - or so she thought.

Despite how hard she tried to avoid it, he was there, buried somewhere where she might never uproot him.

She expected him to get up and go, but he lingered. She heard the woosh of the electronic door as it finally shut behind him, leaving them encapsulated - doused by the flashing light of the storm. Finally, she looked at him, his long hair having grown an inch or two since they came here, his face unshaven. It made him look older, and less boyish. She studied the swoop of his long nose, and the pout of his lips, which seemed to be perpetually pressed into some sort of frown. It was his eyes that stood out, pretty brown that caught the light and surprised her each time they fell on her. She didn't know if it was because she had once hated him, or if because she felt something more for him now.

He turned then to look at her, as it was almost impossible to keep her thoughts from his, and they were all tangled up in each other now. She expected to see anger on his face, or that stoic stoniness she had become accustomed to, but there was only his open expression.

"I'm sorry," He finally murmured. "Perhaps Luke was right about me," He said, offering up the smallest smile he could muster.

She wanted to be sarcastic, but she was worried he might slam shut like a door in her face. She wasn't sure she could bear it again, even though she knew she might have to. For that moment, she advised herself not to focus on the future, and just allow herself to be there - with him. She remained silent, merely looking him over as they both slowly shifted to face one another.

"I should not have-" He paused, ever at odds with himself. "I should not have shut you out. I'm sorry,"

She wondered if there had been more to it, initially. She hadn't expected to hear two apologies in such a short period of time, but she realized she had been wanting to hear it. They had stumbled into each other that night, but it had only made it worse to find that he kept pushing her away. Whatever it was, his affinity for the dark side or his fear - it hadn't made her feel any better. Besides, she had to imagine that Leia had taught him better.

He laughed, and she realized he'd heard her. She smiled awkwardly in return, rolling her features into her arm to try and hide her face. It was odd, and frightening, this awful intimacy. She wasn't sure if given the chance to do it over she wouldn't try harder to turn away from it. She thought of how brazenly she'd faced him, and how abruptly he'd told her that he was in fact a monster. He didn't seem so monstrous right then, but maybe that was part of his appeal.

She found that they drew closer, the longer they stayed together in this room - like two planets that couldn't quite get out of each others orbits.

She found herself reaching out, drawing his hair away from his face - fingertips tracing the scar that now marred his eye and his cheek, all the way down to his breast bone. It had been her handiwork, a mark he would carry around with him forever. She had never felt guilty about it, but she did find herself fascinated with it's shape, even now.

She heard him, in a place that seemed far away and in a time that seemed long ago; _Can you see my surroundings? I can't see yours. Just you._ The look on his face then would be forever painted into her memories. She thought she should tell him, how much he had meant to her, and how much he had lifted her loneliness - and what a strange place it was to find companionship. She knew that he knew, however, and remained silent.

There was a lot that went unsaid.

She moved herself forward, enjoying the look of pure surprise on his face as he dropped his legs down and allowed her to settle into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, and she slid down atop him in a slow manner that was wholly different from the first time they'd been this close. She slid the fingers of both hands at the nape of his neck, curling the tips in his dark hair before she leaned into him completely, her mouth dropping a whisper of a kiss to his.

She felt the tremor of his want underneath what he was trying to hold back, though he forced himself to move at a slower pace - as if it had been over too quickly the first time. This time when he kissed her, it was with a sweetness that almost drew tears to her eyes and the breath from her lungs. It was the sort of thing that she had been sure he was completely incapable of.

This time, it was less fearful, less obliterating. She slid her fingers along his abdomen, lifting his shirt up and over his head and letting it settle aside like so much dust. She found, that up close, he had a good deal more scarring than she had realized. She let her fingers trace along his skin - she had once expected him to be ice cold - but he was warm underneath her touch. He let her explore, his eyes on her face as she examined each ridge of scar tissue. He seemed curious at her curiosity, before he returned the favor, stripping her of her clothing slowly, letting it grow the pile of now discarded clothing.

She felt his hands drift along the curve of her now bare back, a thumb tip coming forward to brush curiously at the bud of her nipple, causing the flesh to respond quite obviously to his touch. They continued their slow undressing until both of them were bare, warm flesh pressed together enticingly while their hands explored, as if committing each other to memory. As if they might not get another chance.

This time, Ben lifted her up and carried her to the bed, and Rey found she preferred it to the hard, cold ground. His mouth was everywhere, and she felt the touch of his lips and tongue with such intensity that she almost became oversensitive to it, even when he touched his mouth to the most delicate of places. Her fingers delved into the dark mass of his hair, and by the time he was done, she was a shivering, aching mess.

He wasn't finished, and she felt herself shifted into his lap. When they connected again, she released a breathy gasp, trying to keep herself from being too loud. He was silent, but she could feel the uptick in his breathing against her neck. She held herself up by sliding her arms over his bare shoulders. They moved in silence this way, the only indication of any activity at all being their hitched breaths and the barest noise of movement atop the sheets.

Rey felt his breathing become more erratic and his movements more irregular, she grasped the meat of his arms, nails dragging small red marks in the flesh. It seemed as if he stopped breathing, and released a throaty, pleased gasp before his motions stilled completely. She fell back against the sheets, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath. He came to lay beside her, and she found herself wrapped up in his arms.

They fell asleep this way, sated and free of thought, holding onto each other as if the universe had plans to rip them apart - which Rey was sure it did.

* * *

Rey was awake before the sun rose completely. It had stopped raining, and she found Ben's weight was comforting. She was mildly surprised he was still there, considering how this had gone last time. She shifted to examine him, her fingertips drifting over the strange slope of his nose and the curl of his lips. His eyes opened eventually, blinking against the light of the morning. She smiled at him, and she was surprised to find he smiled back. It was so unusual to see him smile, but she found she loved the way his face crinkled up and the odd angle of his teeth.

 _Lets stay here, like this._

She still found the echo of his voice in her head shocking, but she could only drop her head into his chest in response. He kissed the crown of her hair, wrapping his arms around her again. She found herself crying, the emotion coming up out of her like vomit, the worries and fears she'd been staunching since they got here. He held her tightly, but said nothing - not because he didn't know what to say, but because she now knew that he felt much the same as she did. This whole thing was impossible, and yet, here they were.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Rose's hesitant voice.

"Rey? Breakfast is ready. Have you seen Ben?"

Rey took her bottom lip beneath her teeth, leaning back to look at Ben. He kissed her, very briefly.

"I'll be out in a minute," She said, as kindly as she could. "I don't know where Ben is,"

Rey didn't feel good about lying to her friends, but when she thought of the alternative, it was unbearable. It had been hard enough dealing with Finn's anger, and she couldn't think how the rest of them would feel if they knew how far it had gone. Ben released her, reluctantly, and she slid out of bed.

They rinsed and dressed in silence, stealing moments to hold hands or kiss each other's skin - because they would be forced to going back to pretending. Rey left the room first, giving Ben one more look before she turned the corner, heading in the direction of the breakfast smells.

After enough time had passed, he followed.

Finn and Poe were sitting next to each other, eating breakfast slowly and quietly. Coffee had been made, which looked and tasted like mud, and Rose had done the best she could with the supplies they had and the equipment they'd brought. Rey gave them all a cursory good morning, but she could tell that it had been a long night for all of them. Rose looked tired for the first time since they'd been there, and Finn and Poe could barely exchange two words. Rey wondered at it, but then she remembered what Poe had said.

The deathly pall that fell on the group when Ben showed up seemed to be missing, as if somehow they had all finally accepted his presence there. They sat next to each other, but were careful not to sit too close or look at each other for too long. Rey was afraid the others would know just by looking at her, and was relieved when no one seemed to notice that anyone was different.

They packed up camp in silence and Ben and Rey watched as the three of them loaded themselves onto the speeder. They would be forced to hike, which meant that they would beat them back to the Falcon, but none of them had any idea how long it would take Rose to get it working again. They had the communicators, to keep in touch, and Ben and Rey went out in search of any evidence of the creature that was slowly strangling the life out of the planet.

The day was more humid than the last, and they were stripped down to be as bare as possible before they came across running water. It must have come from the rain, and Ben paused, dropping his pack to the ground and lifting his shirt over his head.

"What are you doing?" Rey asked.

"What does it look like? Come on, it's hotter than hell,"

"It won't do much good," She said, once they got out of the water they would be humid all over again.

Ben smirked at her.

"Are you afraid?"

"No," She said, rolling her eyes. She dropped her pack and dressed down as much as she could without being naked, slipping into the water with a sigh. It was cool enough to provide some reprieve, and she submerged herself completely before resurfacing, pushing her hair back from her face. When she looked around, she saw that he was alone.

"Ben?" She called, a bit uneasy.

She felt something wrap around her ankle, and tug her under. She gasped, though whatever it was let her go rather quickly and she was able to resurface. She saw him do the same, wiping water from his face and laughing.

"You're not funny," She said, sending a wave of water in his direction.

They splashed water like this back and forth, both of them laughing, as if they weren't trying to get off of a cursed planet and back to a big war where both of them stood firmly planted on the opposite side. Ben stopped, his face falling as his eyes settled on something behind her. She thought he was teasing her again, so she chided him, but when she realized the look on his face was quite serious, she turned to follow his eyes.

She saw one of them, black eyed and black mouthed, standing there staring at them from across the embankment. Rey's throat seized up, and her mind immediately began racing. How long would it take them to get back to their belongings, how many of them were there. That was when the girl did something strange. Her mouth opened, as if she was trying to speak. Rey was sure that she could almost see the girl she had been before all of this. She was clearly having trouble using her own vocal cords, and the words she was trying to form escaped her.

Was she trying to help them?

The more Rey looked, the more she noticed her garb. She was wearing what looked like Jedi training robes, earth toned and wrapped around her body, held in place at the waist. Obviously, there were what seemed like years of wear and tear and muck staining each one, but Rey wondered if she had been one of the children who had been trained there. The temple had to be thousands of years old, and it obviously hadn't been occupied in maybe as much time.

"No Jedi," The girl finally croaked out. "All dead,"

She kept repeating it, pointing back in the direction of the temple. She was trying to tell them something, but Rey couldn't guess what it was. She wondered if she was referring to Luke, who was dead, or something else entirely that had happened eons ago on this planet. Once she found her voice, she began to shout it, pointing fervently back at the temple.

Rey looked at Ben and he shook his head, it wasn't clear to him either, and when Rey tried to reach out into the girls' thoughts, there was nothing but dead air. What was prompting her to do this? If her mind was truly gone, how had she broken free long enough to find them and make a haphazard attempt to warn them?

Something rattled in the bush, and startled the girl. She took off running, and was gone before either of them could get out of the water and get after her. Ben ran a few steps, looking to see if he could still see her, but she was gone, like a ghost. They were silent as they both mulled over what she'd said to them, though the girl had been pointing at the temple. Rey had found her light saber there the night before. Obviously this whole mess was something to do with that damn temple, but if they were all being killed, who would have had time to record it?

They dressed quickly and picked up their packs, mostly running back in the direction of the temple. Rey hadn't realized how far they'd gotten from it, but she clicked on the communicator and tried to get Finn to respond. It took a few attempts, but finally she could hear the crackle and Finn's voice on the other end. She explained to him what had happened, and that they were going back to see if they could find anything else out. There was a whole big area that had gone unexplored by them the night before, so maybe there was something there they had missed.

Finn said that Rose hadn't had any luck with the Falcon, and they were going to try and hurry back before sun fell.

The door to the temple opened for them with ease, and they dropped their packs again, beginning a long search through the twisty corridors of the place. Rey could tell that it was an old place, back even before Luke Skywalker, back even before even Obi-Wan. Rey knew little about the Jedi order, but she felt it in her bones. Ben seemed to feel the same, and without speaking they came to a silent decision to stick together. There were offshoots, hallways that lead into more bunks, more mess halls, more libraries.

Strategically, they went room by room, trying to see if anything stood out. Thus far, it felt as if the girl had been misleading them. Maybe it was all big a trap. Eventually, they came on a door that didn't open. It was a surprising thing, it seemed to be made of the same technology as the other doors, which Rose had somehow dealt with the night before. They stood in front of it, and Rey pressed her ear against it. At first, there was nothing, but then she realized she could hear small whispers. She couldn't make anything out of them, nothing that made sense, anyway.

Ben did what he was good at. She heard his saber flash on and she was forced to stand back as he began hacking away at the panel, hoping that with enough destruction the door would open to them. Rey saw the sparks fly, and wondered how much equipment he had destroyed in just this very same manner. Luckily for them, it worked, and the door slid halfway open, sparking occasionally. The space beyond was dark. Rey slid sideways through the small opening, and Ben followed, the light of the weapons the only thing that allowed them to see beyond. Even then, it seemed as if the darkness was a wet, living thing, swallowing up all light as quickly as it could.

It was a long hallway. It felt never ending. It also felt like they were being drawn along it. Rey heard the whispers grow in intensity, and thought she could catch snippets of words, but they were gone too quickly. At one point they became so overwhelming that Ben had to stop and put his hands over his ears. Finally, the hallway opened out into a big dark space. Rey looked around, confusion evident on her features as she realized where they were. It looked like some sort of green room. There were plants long rotted, some having dried up into skeletal remains of themselves - and she wondered what it was doing down here. Wasn't the point of a green room to allow sunlight for plants to grow?

It began to make sense, little by little. Whatever was being grown down here was not growing, without check, up there. The realization dawned on both of them, as surely as the sun rose.

"These are..." Ben paused, using the red light of the saber to examine the bits and pieces that were left behind. "Those vines," He finally said, turning to glance at Rey. "Were they growing them down here?"

"That would be the only reasonable explanation," She muttered, moving forward.

She was startled when she kicked over an empty pot, sending it clattering across the floor. She followed it, with the intention of picking it up. As the light threw itself across the wall, she saw dark splotches of liquid, or what had once been liquid. Initially, she thought it was more of that goop from the vines, but when she got closer she realized it had a rusty red tint to it. Even long dried, she could smell the vague scent of copper there. She stood back, attempting to get a look at the whole wall.

"Ben," She said, her voice a mere whisper. She felt him next to her, his eyes following hers. "This is blood,"

A lot of blood.

The further they went into the darkness, the more of it there was, sending chills up and down Rey's spine. Whatever had happened here had not been good. Ben was a professed Jedi slayer himself, but even he seemed to think that it wasn't the Sith who had done this. Usually, they were much more efficient. Such a brutal mess had to be left behind by someone who didn't know what they were doing.

This time, it was Ben who kicked something in the dark. They both jumped back when they realized what it was, a skull awkwardly rolling to stop at the end of a pile of mummified or skeletal corpses. Rey gasped, turning her eyes away and clamping her hand over her mouth. She had seen death before, but not quite to this degree. Ben seemed unperturbed, but she could see in the glint of his eyes that this was concerning, even to him.

They were all adults, they could tell by the size of the skeletons. Some still had the rotting remains of robes hanging onto them, but a good deal of them had been remarkably well preserved down here. They no longer smelled of rot, and the dry air had made it much more likely to mummify them over anything. Rey leaned forward, examining all of the details that confirmed that these had in fact been Jedi.

It felt as if they were beginning to see the whole picture, but something was missing. What had the vines had to do with any of it? Was it the children who had been responsible for this, or the beast above?

Rey was glad when Ben grabbed her hand and they exited the place, feeling she could breathe again once they'd finally made it out of the never ending hallway. They both had to catch their breath, the presence down there so strangling. They were shocked, their eyes wide and their mouths open as they tried to catch their breath. It was amazing how something so terrible could happen on the edges of the galaxy and how no one would know about such a thing. If those vines clogged up their connection to the force, then she supposed it wasn't so out of order, but it was terrifying to consider.

She didn't want to die on this planet.

Neither did Ben.

* * *

 **this chapter fought me the whooole way. sorry it took me so long, but it's mostly because i believe i am the worst smut writer in history. i guess you'll have to tell me.**

 **also, there's some spooky stuff too.**

 **feedback/comments are always appreciated.**

 **in fact, i live for them.**

 **thanks for sticking with me!**

 **p.s, obviously not wrapping this up in 10 chapters...probably more like 12 or 13, hope you ain't mad about it**


	10. I know

They walked back through the temple in silence. Rey didn't know much about the Jedis, or their history, but Ben seemed more in thought than he normally did. He seemed angry, in fact. His stormy presence was one she had gotten used to, but she caught snippets of his line of thought. He was actively trying to hold them back from her and failing. She reached out and caught his hand, a sort of silent agreement passing between them. Whatever Ben was angry about, Rey suddenly realized that it had something to do with the old order of Jedis. After she had seen what Luke had nearly done to him, she found it didn't surprise her. Perhaps they were also responsible for this, in some way.

When they reached an area where it felt they were far enough from the horrors that they had found, the walkie that Rose had given them started buzzing. It was Rose, but Rey could hardly make out what she was saying. They stood in silence, trying to gasp the meaning of her message, but it took them a few moments to realize that she was saying something about a distress signal that Ben's ship had put out upon impact. Rey and Ben looked at each other, concern crossing her features before his own went blank.

"That means we don't have much time," He admitted.

"You crashed weeks ago, would it have taken them this long to find you?"

"I don't know, with all of the interference that this planet puts out, I suppose it's possible,"

"So if they come here, it's likely they'll be stuck too," Rey didn't want to imagine that. Then they would certainly all die here.

"We have to find that thing and get rid of it,"

"So eager to go back?" Rey said, swallowing heavily. She hadn't realized that the moment would come this soon.

"You know that they won't be lenient," He said simply.

"Come with us, Ben," She said, the pleading in her voice echoing her earlier sentiments.

"You know that I can't do that," He said simply. "If I'm not here when they come, it will just send them following after you,"

"You shouldn't pretend that this is out of concern for me,"

That drove the conversation to a crashing halt, and left them bruised and in awkward silence.

"Where do we start?" Rey finally said, swallowing back her (and his) feelings, and trying to focus on the task at hand.

"We can start with what we know," He said simply. "It only comes out at night. The children are eating the vines, somehow it's gained control over them by way of the vines,"

"So what, we patrol at night and hope we run across it? What about the zombies?"

"It's the best we've got, and we're running out of time," He admitted. "I don't think any of us will be able to leave until it's dead,"

They had been taking the offensive when it came to the creature. Rey hoped that taking the defensive would be worth it.

Poe, Finn and Rose all showed up some time around sundown looking tired and sunburned. It had been a trying day for them as well, and Rose looked outright concerned about running afoul of the first order on this planet that seemed to come straight from a horror story. They all sat in silence for a long while before they began trying to explain what had happened during the day, though Rose had already given them their big news. How she'd gotten the signals up long enough to tell wasn't clear, but if she had, it meant that the first order had likely intercepted them. Rey could only hope that the strange storm surrounding the planet would keep them at bay and buy them some more time.

That night Ben and Rey went out. They were tired, exhausted, but they realized that they wouldn't sleep well anyway. Poe kept watch with an old blaster held to his front, ready to fend off anything that might come their way. They had all begun to believe that maybe the Jedi temple was not as safe as they had once imagined it to be. In any case, it was better to be safe than sorry.

They chased after inklings of the creature, finding strange children standing here or there, coming across large groupings of them at times but seeing no sign of the thing they were hunting. It was almost as if it knew it was being looked for. A full three nights passed this way, with Rey and Ben sleeping during the day and going out at night. Finn had started to accompany them, leaving Rose and Poe behind to try and keep watch as best they could - until it seemed all of them were snatching hours of sleep during the day.

With each day that passed, they grew more anxious. The first order being here would not improve the situation at all. Ben hadn't sent the signal out intentionally, but he explained that it was built in tech that all of their ships had for easier retrieval should someone go missing. Rey doubted that they expected it would be the "supreme leader" that did. She found herself questioning if they would come after him at all, but without Snoke it was if the hydra had lost a head and had yet to grow two back in it's place.

Ben and Rey were too tired to talk, though their bond coursed stronger every day until she could feel his aches and pains and he hers. They stole moments, sometimes, quietly holding hands or indulging in a brief whisper of kiss, but they didn't have the time or the privacy to be together as they had been a few nights prior. Rey found that they both wanted; sometimes the wanting was so bad it kept both of them awake, but they resisted with stony intention as any good force user would do. They had to keep focused on the task at hand, and the knowledge that it might soon be over made it painful to consider doing again.

* * *

It took them almost a full five days to even come close to the beast, and they were beginning to think they might never find it. It was a strange night, the air thick and sultry and still. The bugs buzzed ferociously, out for blood, causing both of them to don long sleeves and long pants just to avoid the horrendous itching that came thereafter. It didn't stop the little misers from finding places to bite, however, as Rey had bites between her fingers that were more miserable than anything she was sure she had experienced before.

It was the girl from before; the no jedi, all dead girl. She appeared again like a ghost just out of her field of vision, but Ben and Rey stopped abruptly when they finally saw her. She seemed to be trying to help them. Perhaps she was just leading them ever closer to their deaths. Finn came crashing through the foliage, and Rey suddenly found herself very glad that he was there with them. She turned and hushed him, and all three of them stared at the girl, who pointed, the gesture pregnant with discord and foreshadowing.

They heard it before they saw it, leaving destruction in it's wake as it crashed through foliage, simply ripping trees out of it's path. It was slowly but surely killing everything on this planet, strangling until there would be nothing left to strangle. They stood silently, trying to keep as quiet as they could before they began following the noise. Something was masking them, perhaps, as the creature didn't appear to notice them. Rey was fearful that it might sense them both, but it didn't appear to unless some outright, non-passive force action was attempted.

It was a great, ugly thing, pulsing with some life force that made Rey uneasy each time she sensed it. There was something in there, something that lived and breathed just like each of them did. It lead them along a path that it had taken before, the upturned foliage and slime trails making it obvious. It moved like some sort of strange spider, attaching itself between trees; vines pushing out against the world around it before it made another stop jump move. It was too loud, but they all did their best to be as silent as they could.

They were stunned when they realized that it had found its way back to the temple. Could it have been here this whole time? There was a network of pods that spread out underground, and it rolled itself into a dark tunnel that looked as if it might have once served as a place to dispose of waste and other refuse. It was then that the bizarre throat singing started, a thousand voices roaring up in unison. They froze, looking at each other before Ben made the decision to go in after the thing first.

Rey followed, and after some obvious silent complaining, Finn came in after the both of them. Rey saw Ben's saber light up, casting the tunnel in an ominous shade of red. She realized that this connected to the very same place where they'd found all the bodies a few days before - they just hadn't gone far enough. Too shocked and too scared to go any further, sure that this thing was a surface threat, and not a threat that had been lurking right under their nose.

It explained why her light saber had ended up there, and maybe why it had been taken from her to begin with.

Rey began to connect the dots - their strange dream states when they first landed, the storm, the townspeople who were afflicted. Something was controlling this thing, and doing so with the force. She wondered if it was so unaware of itself that it didn't realize it had become a vacuum for it, too.

The closer they got to it, the duller her senses felt, but she was thankful to find that her bond to Ben was unbroken. She hoped it would help them. She lit up her own saber, causing the cave to glow purple. Finn followed, taking up the back and making sure nothing was following them. It soon became clear that something was - the strange, black eyed children that had been spotted crept behind them, hiding behind corners. The only glint that they could see was the strange glow of their eyes, like caimans following along in a dark river.

"Uh, guys," Finn said, tossing the light of his flashlight back into the dark. "I think we're being lead,"

"It seems that way," Ben said, turning to look back.

"They don't look as if they want to attack us," Rey said.

"Not yet, anyway," Finn said in his shaky, I am majorly rethinking my decision, voice.

"Just keep an eye on them," Ben said, his tone so commanding that Finn had no choice but to oblige.

Finn quieted down and continued to flash his flashlight across the tunnel in a sweeping motion, but the children never advanced on them, just continued to watch them curiously like cats. The tunnel had dead ends, and lead off to nonsensical bits of construction, but they would occasionally lose the way the children would lead them back in the way that they were supposed to go...or at least, the way they thought they were supposed to go. It was unsettling being lead, and Rey was beginning to wonder if this was even the planet they were meant to visit at all, or if that strange storm had meant to catch them in it.

These children obviously wanted them to do something for them.

Finally they entered a dark room that reminded her of Snoke's throne room. The center of the room was dropped down into the middle, much like the rest of the construction of the building. It was smeared with black, the very same black oily substance that they'd seen the others eating before. They didn't know how the large creature had fit down here, and in fact, saw no sign of it at all. The glow of the lightsabers gave them only empty room, and quietly, Rey motioned for Finn to shine his light in on the area as well. He was reluctant to take his eyes from the children, but he realized they had all disappeared. Well, that wasn't ominous at all.

They came upon a raised dias. Rey began to think that this had been a throne room of sorts. There was a person sitting there, his legs crossed beneath him. No, not a person, she thought as they tossed more light onto him. Mummified was the best way to describe it, the dried skin like ash. It looked as if it had been painted with white mud, and was crackling away with age and wear. His ribs were visible beneath the paper thin skin, and no breath could be seen beyond. His mouth was opened in a grotesque 'O', having fallen open in a silent scream of death. His eyes were black holes, and beyond there were two little pinpricks of light. Someone was at home there, but could not move, forever frozen between life and death.

They didn't have time to marvel over him.

The creature came crashing in, using the sheer power of the force to blow a hole into the room and come rolling through. Rey wasn't slow to make the connection between it and this thing that was lurking down here. However long he had been down here was a mystery, but it was perhaps the most awful, unnatural thing she had ever experienced. Is this what happened when a Jedi simply refused to die? She had to think that the plant had something to do with it, allowing him to live in stasis forever - as well as the children who had been students here.

It went after Ben first, upending him from his spot and tossing him across the room as if he were nothing at all. She heard him grunt out his surprise, and then pain. The force of it might have been enough to render all of the bones in his body as jelly, and she was distracted by the sudden pain that shot through him. She was thankful when she saw him right himself, stomping in his signature way as his lightsaber lit up. Finn started shooting at it, ripping chunks away from it's hull and causing it to release a feral screech that seemed to come more from the townspeople surrounding the building than it did from the actual creature. Had this man completely infested the entire planet?

They cut from it limb after limb, but it only seemed to grow them back and become more angry in the process. It was distracting them, trying to drive them away from the body. When Rey realized it, she shouted.

"Ben! The body!"

It seemed that he had made the same connection, and though Finn and Rey found themselves backed further into a corner and growing more and more exhausted, Ben found a way to break out of the fray. Ben was met with resistance. They were weak in the thing that made them strong, and it took his feet out from underneath him a few times. Rey shouted at Finn to start shooting at the body, but to her dismay, the thing seemed to have some sort of protective field around it. She wondered if it was some sort of old shield that needed to be turned off...but could tech like that survive down here for that long? The blaster bolts ricocheted, unfortunately.

She had to assume it was force related.

They had to get close.

She watched Ben get inches and inches closer, but the more he tried, the more the monster resisted it. He was caught at the waist by one of the vines, and one of the ricocheting blaster bolts caught him in the shoulder, causing him to groan out in pain. It stopped Rey in her tracks, the blinding pain in her own shoulder causing her to think it had happened to her too. She expected to find blood on her fingers when she pulled it away from the appendage, but it was not so.

"Ben!" She shouted, and he was face down in the rubble, trying to regain his stance. She had seen him go down this way more than a few times, and remembered his face in the snow after she had cut him down.

She forced herself to stop, steadying her breath and reaching out for any snippet of anything she might reach her mind around. She found nothing but calm, the same calm that had overtaken her in the snow. She started to run, the world seeming to slow down around her. She felt the force flow freely through her, and rode it for as long as it would stay. It had been absent for so long, after all. She managed to avoid what Ben had not been able to avoid, and she forced herself to get close to the horrible, gaping mouthed corpse that sat atop the dias in some mockery of royalty.

She heard it's thoughts, no longer human, not fully anything else. They were the terrified, rampant thoughts of a boy, and she realized that this was exactly what he had been. She saw the Jedis growing those plants and feeding them to those children under the impression that it would extend their abilities and make them stronger, but it only made them erratic and strange. She saw the Jedi get killed by these children, and she saw this boy die, leaving behind only echoes and malicious purpose. She saw it play out as if she was there herself, putting a literal plug into the force and preventing this planet to stay as it was, forever doomed until someone came along and ripped it free from the hands of this angry young man who had died all of those years ago.

He kept her away with the same field that he had kept Finn away, and she realized she would not be able to cut him down. She also realized that there would be no reasoning with him, he was no longer a boy, but an echo of an emotion that had taken a stranglehold on every thing that lived or breathed. She wondered what the consequences would be if she tore the link, but she realized that she had to.

She had lost track of Ben, and Finn, but she could hear his blaster firing as if he were a great distance away. She felt the thudding pain of Ben's shoulder in her own, but she knew his life force still pumped through him with a vengeance. Before long, she realized that he was beside her. He held his shoulder, and was obviously fighting the effect of losing blood, his hand covered in it. They reached out for each other, grasping each other's hands as if had been a natural thing to do, but something seemed to be driving them along.

With the physical connection, it became clear how strong the bond was, coursing through them both. It steeled Ben in his injury, and opened them both up to the force that had been eluding them since they'd landed on this planet. She could hear him in her skull, though this time it wasn't an unwelcome intrusion, and knew it was the same for him. She felt the boy resist them, and if it were physical he would have been kicking and screaming. They could not force the presence to go, but steady willpower began to overwhelm it, making it weaker and weaker until the actual physical manifestation of it (the vines) began to slump and lose some of it's quickness and range of movement.

They inhaled and exhaled together, the two of them closing their eyes at the same time until they made a final push. It disintegrated whatever remained of the resistance, pulling away the protective shield he'd set up around his body before it disappeared completely in a blast of violet light, causing Finn to close his eyes and drop his blaster with the surprise of it.

The beast slumped. No longer made active by the echo of death that had once held it. The strange, singing voices were silenced; once and for all.

Finn opened his eyes and exclaimed; "What the hell was that?"

* * *

When Rey opened her eyes, she found that Ben was standing there in front of her. He opened his eyes, and kept hold of her hands. Whatever had kept him upright during this activity seemed to drain out of him, and he slumped, forcing her to step forward and try to catch him. He was heavy dead weight, and he almost knocked her over, but she managed to keep herself upright enough.

Finn came up to help her, and they were forced to carry Ben between them, which was awkward considering how tall and heavy he was. Rey felt the rush of the force, it almost knocked her off balance. It was as if a stopped had been unplugged, finally allowing water to drain. The sensation of it was so strong that she nearly dropped Ben, but they all managed to right themselves and continue back out of the cave. It was a long walk, but Rey felt the relief of it.

Rose and Poe had heard the singing grow louder and then cease completely, and both of them came running up to help and try wrangle Ben to the ground before they all passed hugs between them, glad that they were all still alive. Rose mentioned something about even seeing the purple light, but Rey couldn't imagine how that was possible.

Poe leaned down to get a good look at Ben's shoulder, asking if any of them had a knife. He had the most experience with being a medic, though they had little supplies with them for such a wound. Poe cut the fabric away from the wound, exposing the blackened skin. Thankfully the bleeding had slowed with the cauterization of the wound, but she could tell by the pallor in his skin that he had lost enough blood to suit them all.

"Figures he would be the one to get hit with a ricochet blaster," Finn grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest before he broke down and helped with the process of handing items over to Poe who did his best to tend to it.

"We're gonna have to leave him here," Poe said, glancing at Rey.

"We can't leave him here," She said, trying to keep the anger from her voice.

"Rey, they're comin' for him. We don't have a choice, and he's not in a state to leave himself," Poe sighed. "If we take him with us there's no saying they won't hunt us down,"

Rey knew that was a very real possibility, but she wouldn't just leave him there.

"We have to get him back underground," Rey said. "They'll help him until he's well enough to leave on his own,"

"No," He said, his eyes having opened now. "Rey," He murmured, his eyes searching for her until they landed on her. He reached out, his fingertips still bloody and turning a rusty red color.

Finn, Poe and Rose exchanged glances, before the three of them decided it was probably better to give them a moment. They immediately started packing up the speeder. The thought was to get out of there as soon as possible and avoid the first order if they could.

"Go," He said, grasping her hand tightly. "I'll be fine,"

She shook her head, grasping his hand back tightly.

"I'm not going to leave you here," She said, through the tears that had built up in her eyes without warning. "I won't do that again,"

"Rey," He murmured. "You can't be here when they find me," He said simply. She knew it to be true. "I've survived much worse. Go," He said again, shifting so that he sat up a bit.

She watched him struggle, reaching out to grasp the sides of his head with her hands, pressing her forehead into his and closing her eyes.

"Come with us," She tried again, but she could hear the echo of his answer in her head before he spoke it, the bond between them now much stronger than it had ever been.

"I can't," He closed his own eyes, pressing back against her. "I have...unfinished business," He finally admitted.

The first order had been a huge part of his life, and she realized he might be dead before he found release from it's grip on him.

"You're a stupid man, Ben Solo," She said, leaning back and wiping her tears from her face.

He laughed, but his face quickly twisted in pain and she helped him to lay back down. She held onto his hand, and he held onto hers, but they were woefully silent. There might have been a lot that they could have said, but it was Ben who broke the silence.

"Rey," He said simply, grasping her hand tightly. "I love you,"

It was so simple, and so peaceful that Rey found the tears filling her eyes again, making her lips taste of salt and her vision blurry. It took her a few long moments to reply, and she barely got the words out:

"I know," She said.

And she released his hand.

* * *

The Falcon was back in working order, and Poe let out a whoop of happiness when he saw the lights come on and the power start up. Rey felt sick to her stomach, feeling Ben grow more and more distant. She knew he lived, his life force beating steadily beneath her own. He was in her blood, now - and she was sure that no matter how far apart they got he would always be there.

Rey woozily made her way to the quarters of the ship, taking a dazed seat where the dejarik table was, even though it hadn't worked for a good many years. She wiped her face, but the tears kept coming. Finn found her as the Falcon lit up and began it's ascent. He sat beside her in silence, holding her hands, his steady presence something she was immediately grateful for. The beast being killed had lifted the strange galactic storm, and Poe could see signs of the first order making itself obvious with pods being released into the atmosphere to provide data before any of them decided to land. Rey wagered in would be a much safer landing this time around.

They sped across the planet, and Rey could see the Jedi temple from the Falcon's windows. Ben had gotten up, and stood silent and stalwart in the clearing that they'd spent so much time in. He was watching the ship ascend, holding his bare, bandaged shoulder. His cape whipped out behind him, and she saw he had retrieved his belongings. She was glad to see him, still alive, even though she knew he was.

She heard him, in her head.

Rey, I love you.

And then Poe pulled the falcon into hyper-drive, and he was gone.

* * *

dis de end folks. ;-; i appreciate those of you who encouraged me and stuck with me throughout this, even if it didn't get the kinda response i was hopin' for...i do really appreciate y'all. i hope this ending made you cry in all the right ways and maybe not piss you off at all, but i'm open to feedback (as long as it's you know, constructive). also, had to exploit the han solo/leia i love you/i know moment. sorreeee not sorreee. i probably won't write another sw fanfic within the universe, but i do have an AU i'm workin on if you're real thirsty for more reylo. check it out over s/12869059/1/The-Poisoned-Prince

! thank you again !


	11. Epilogue

Kylo Ren had not expected the gaping hole that became his chest. If there had been a cord connecting them together, he expected it to snap with the distance. He was quickly realizing that there would be no such comfort, as if the absence of her would be more easy to survive than the tenacious reality of her. She was most certainly a ghost that haunted his every breath and action, creeping into him like slow and gentle poison.

Or at least, he wanted to believe she was poison.

If he saw himself through her eyes; he was Ben, Ben, Ben. As much as Kylo Ren tried to rear up and take back over, it got increasingly more difficult to pretend as if she hadn't integrally changed the very fiber of his composition.

Hux had showed up what seemed like milliseconds after she was gone, finding Ren standing half naked and bandaged in what felt like wreckage. It was wreckage; what they had done to the planet had completely changed it's make up as well. The townspeople who had been eating the vines for years died, and the First Order swept the planet and recovered so many bodies that they began to lose count. They all looked peaceful as if they had been suffering for many a year and were finally allowed to rest. Ben had not expected to cause so much death, and he felt it with an intensity that he knew he shared with Rey, no matter how many leagues and paces across the galaxy she got away from him.

There were those that lived, the strange creatures that lived below and those that had managed to escape underneath the ground, coming back above ground in bits and pieces. The First Order burned what they could find of the traitorous plant, wanting to keep it from ever happening again. Ben was sure that whatever had happened had been directly related to the Jedi, but his knowledge of their almost ineffectual past manouevres didn't make it difficult for him to comprehend.

Hux was inherently displeased, though Ben knew it was because he had been hoping that he would get lucky and Ben would die there. Ben could see that his time away had suited Hux just fine, and that the traitorous man would turn on him the moment the perfect opportunity presented itself. He had weighed the options, obviously. Ben didn't really need to read his thoughts for that, he made it obvious enough.

They were there for a whole two weeks before the deed was done; the vines burned, and then, the Jedi temple.

Ben had watched it burn, reaching out to the thing in between that had always been there, finding that the exalted fire released ages old ghosts from the confines of a building that meant little to him and even less to a Jedi (he was sure). There were those that held on merely because they had no longer been human, really, and those that simply held on because they could find no reason to let go. He wondered at a Jedi, burning away into a mystical blue light only to traipse back across the force and into the physical again. He felt Luke as surely as he felt the wound in his shoulder, but the old man never showed himself.

When Ben boarded the destroyer, his clothing had been mended and cleaned, just as he had. He was Kylo Ren again, and he meant to stay as Kylo Ren. Unfinished business, and his legacy would make it possible for him to forget the scavenger. It would make it possible for him to forget how she called him Ben, and how she no longer looked at him as if he were a monster. Maybe she was the only one who no longer looked at him like he was a monster.

He thought with Snoke dead that he might be free of her, only able to remember how she had looked when she had pleaded with him to 'don't go this way', or the last time he had seen her before she had shut the door of the Falcon on him. How strange it was to see her carried away on his father's ship; it brought him back to a time when he'd wanted his father to return so badly he would have done anything for it. This longing wasn't the same, surely. She had made her choice. He could not wait for her any longer.

* * *

It came upon him like a quiet drizzle of rain. Drops and then, suddenly, an outpouring. It was a small little heartbeat, pulsing along with his own, echoing out across the force. It drove him mad. There were days when he couldn't get away from the sound of the pulsing organ, and it began to distract him to such a degree that even he hadn't realized that Hux had begun to enact his plan to assassinate him. Hux didn't see Kylo Ren as his great leader, he saw himself as one, and some might have agreed he was better for the position.

Ben found he cared less and less as the days went on.

If this was what he really wanted, it did not feel as if he had gained anything at all.

He began to dream of his grandfather in bits and pieces, back when he had been a young man, back when he had fallen in love with his grandmother. He saw her belly grow big, full of life, creating the woman that was to become his mother. He didn't sleep well, for fear of these dreams that were plaguing him. A little too late he realized that he didn't have as much time as he had thought. Hux had implemented assassin droids, many of which were skilled and would not stop the onslaught until their master told them to stop it, or they met their goal. Ben did not find them to be difficult targets, but he knew Hux would not give up so easily.

When the droids did not serve their purpose well enough, he moved onto other options, and Ben found himself weakened by his lack of sleep, by his own madness, and by the onslaught that Hux now provided. If he could not succeed with one well planned attempt, he would succeed by sheer force of will and the hope that eventually, Kylo Ren would slip up. Hux saw him as a feral thing, backed into a corner. He was to be pitied, not respected. Ben should have struck back, but he found no desire to do so. Whatever business he felt he had, whatever had drawn him so strongly back there had abated, completely.

The heartbeat sung out loud in his head, growing stronger each day.

It was dead of night when Ben got out of bed. He left behind all of the items that might have denoted him as Kylo Ren, dressing instead in the wool of civilians, though he could not stray far enough to wear earth toned colors. He was not one to run from a fight, but how could he fight for what he no longer wanted? When he put on his cloak, it was not one of military issue. He pulled the hood up over his features, hoping they would be shadowed enough. It was difficult to go unnoticed without some aid of the force, but he managed to sneak off of the ship, and into his own, without much notice from anyone aboard the sleeping dreadnought.

It was said that it was easy to get onto a ship and not off of it, but Ren was not being held prisoner. He kept himself as quiet as possible, flicking switches on and watching as the ship 'booted' up before he pulled away from the ship that had been his home for many years. He felt no sorrow at leaving it, it was full of remnants of the past, remnants of a man he'd killed just to be free of. Would he always stand alone because of how in between he always seemed to be?

He let the force guide him in the direction it chose, though his intent was to seek out Rey, and the source of the noise that now frequently pulsed away along with the throb in his temples. Her name whispered at him like a sweet promise, and he forced himself not to think of her, the strands of her hair at the nape of her neck, the full force of her smile, the way she moved a bit like he did when she fought. She had taken from him, and it might have been amusing if he'd thought of how he'd threatened to take everything from her.

He was not what she deserved. He had to find her, anyway. He knew it would be the only way to regain some of his sanity, if he'd had any to begin with.

The process was not as easy as he was expecting. Wherever they'd gone, they'd hidden themselves well enough, and Ben could no longer rely on the force bond that they'd struck up. Something was overriding it. Maybe she had become strong enough of mind to block it through, but he couldn't sense where she was when he reached out to her across the stars. He had a vague shadow of her, colors and lights, but nothing that could be useful to him in her search.

Something directed him, though, and when he was lost, he resorted to old methods his father had taught him: asking around at the local cantina. He used his force abilities when he could, but without the mask it seemed people might not recognize him. He had shown his face, and there were those that gave just a spark of recognition, but he was able to shadow himself without being realized. He knew Hux would come for him eventually, but for now he managed to keep himself hidden. He did not wish for so much time to pass, but by the time he'd narrowed down the whereabouts of his fathers' ship, a few months had gone by without much notice to him. Time seemed to be something he didn't need to focus on.

The planet might have been a dead one, but no planet was ever truly dead. There was an old mining post which lay empty, as settlers had likely moved when they realized the planet would not be providing any other resource. It had been allowed to recover, now a fertile land of green and blue. It was interesting that she had chosen this place, but perhaps not so interesting as he might have thought.

He was drawn in the direction of the beach, where he could hear the waves rolling in and out, leaving behind salt and weed upon the shore. His large, boot clad feet left wounds in the sand that were quickly recovered. Nothing ever left a mark here for very long, not at the surface, anyway.

He sensed her companions before he sensed her, off at the fringes of his consciousness. She came on him like a wave herself, and he sucked in a lung full of air and held his breath without realizing it. He watched her in his way, sitting on the sand with her feet bare and her hands dug into the cool depths of it. He was not to remain invisible, not to her. He had never really been able to hide himself from her, he had let her into his very soul the moment he had poked around in her thoughts.

She turned, not fully looking at him at first. Finally, she realized he was standing there behind her. Maybe she thought it was as if Snoke had been controlling it, and she didn't realize he was really standing there. When she stood, brushing the sand away from herself, he realized her stomach had grown. She looked as if she was smuggling something underneath her shirt, and then it dawned on him where the source of the sound had been coming from.

 _His child._

He dropped the pack he carried with him, hearing it thump into the sand before he took a few hesitant steps forward. She followed suit, and before long they were standing in front of one another. She looked up at him, that same mixture of defiance and tenderness on her face. She no longer knew how she should feel about him, and he no longer knew how he should feel about her. The lines had most certainly been blurred. Finally, he reached out to touch her growing belly, feeling the life force within, steadily pulsing away.

"Did you know?" He asked, curiously.

"No, not until Rose told me," She said simply, her features flushing pink and her eyes dropping to the sand. "How would I have known?"

"I heard the heartbeat all the way across the galaxy," He admitted, though now that he stood in front of her it had quieted.

"Is that why you're here?" She asked. He could sense the small vein of anger beneath her words. "To see it for yourself?"

"I have been too long," He finally said, looking into her eyes. He knew by the look on her face he was right. "I should have come sooner,"

"Yes!" She said, already exasperated with him. "I didn't think you would come at all," She admitted.

"It took me awhile to find you. Something has been blocking your image from me,"

"Me," She admitted readily. "I couldn't...it was too painful,"

"Yes," He agreed. "I'm here because I love you," He finally said. He remembered what she had said last time: I know. "Don't say it again," He said.

"What?"

"That you know,"

"I do," She said, argumentative.

He reached up, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. She looked up at him and he saw in her eyes that she loved him too, negating the need for her to say it...no matter how much he might have wanted to hear it. He watched a tear streak down her features, and he swiped it away with the pad of this thumb.

" _Say_ it," He said, a smirk lifting the corners of his mouth.

"I love you too, you great, hulking-"

He kissed her, stopping the flow of insults at the source. She gave a slight noise of protest before she leaned into it, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up against him. They were interrupted by the sense that they were being watched, and when the kiss was broken they turned to find Finn and Rose staring at them, mouths agape with surprise. Chewbacca was there, looking quietly between the two parties. Rose had the politeness to clamp hers shut, while Finn just kept looking at the two of them like it was the worst thing he'd ever seen.

They turned from one another, hands dropping to their sides. Rey reached out for his, and they stood there before them, hand in hand. Finn scoffed.

"Is the wookie staying for dinner?" Finn asked. Chewie gave a groan of protest.

"You mean Chewie?" Rey asked, being facetious. "I don't know, why don't you ask him?"

Finn scoffed, again.

"Better invite him in, then,"

* * *

 **a short epilogue for all y'all that bugged me 'bout it. force child. probably gonna be problematic. just like his dad. if you're reading neon lights, i swear i will update it eventually. i'm feeling a bit burned ouuut guys.**


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